


Simple Exchange

by HighlyOveractiveImagination



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: After Hellbent, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Major Character Undeath, Miscommunication, Mostly hurt, OT3, That's a fun tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-08-23 02:13:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16609925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyOveractiveImagination/pseuds/HighlyOveractiveImagination
Summary: Lewis finally gets his revenge and kills Arthur. Only, it doesn't feel quite as good as he thought it would, especially once certain truths and feelings come to light.Oh, and there's also the unexpected side effect of Arthur's death bringing Lewis back to life.





	1. Welcome Back (to Life)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First fic for this fandom. Hello!

The pain was immediate, for both Lewis and Arthur. The moment a horrible, wet tearing sound echoed up from the pit, the ghost felt his heart shatter, and Arthur felt something similar.

If the sensation of a stalagmite piercing his body could be considered similar to that. Oddly enough, that wasn’t the part that hurt most. No, that was seeing his best friend’s face appear in a flourish of ghostly purple fire just before he was tossed off a cliff. Not because Lewis had thrown him to what was probably going to be his death, but because that meant…

That meant Lewis was dead.

Arthur pried his eyes open, blinking away tears, and all he could see was a jagged stone jutting out of his middle. He tried not to think about it, tried not to let his eyes focus on the slick shine of the blood on its surface or seeping into his shirt. Instead, he looked past it to the broad-shouldered figure that was slowly floating down toward him.

Lewis thought this would feel much better than it did. He thought seeing Arthur fall to the same death he’d been pushed to would be immensely satisfying, or at least relieving. All he felt now was horror and the unmistakable sensation of guilt and sorrow running hairline fractures through his heart.

Arthur was bent to a wretched angle, his back caved upward to match the shape of the rock that had impaled him. His legs dangled, as did one of his arms, the other was raised weakly along with his head. He was looking at Lewis with wide, unfocused eyes.

“Lew—Lew-is.” Arthur sputtered, coughing brokenly immediately afterward. The corners of his mouth dripped red, his working hand extended toward the ghost. “No.” He gurgled, his face crumbling and tears sliding down his temples into his hair.

Lewis drifted closer, so he was looking down into Arthur’s watering eyes. He was surprised when the other man didn’t flinch away, his previous fear was gone and instead he reached further and grasped Lewis’ sleeve. The ghost could only watch, silent.

“Please.” Arthur muttered, and Lewis felt the spark of anger rekindle inside him, burning up through the layers of sadness. Arthur wanted to be spared? After everything he’d done? He wanted mercy?

Lewis reached forward and pushed down on Arthur’s chest, causing him to sink lower onto the stalagmite. He groaned in pain and Lewis tried to hold onto his anger, his anger made this so much easier. Then Arthur moved his arm and laid his hand over the ghost’s.

“I’m- sorry.” He croaked, and Lewis flinched, ready to push down with force and put an end to all this, but Arthur kept talking. “I should’ve- looked harder. Should’ve found you sooner. Should’ve been me- instead.”

Lewis frowned in confusion.

“Looked?” He finally spoke, his fingers digging into the fabric of Arthur’s shirt.

Arthur nodded, his eyes fluttering as he tried to keep awake, clinging tighter to Lewis’ hand.

“I was right where you left me!” Lewis shouted, flames erupting around him. He could feel as Arthur’s skin singed where he touched him, but the man didn’t let go of the ghost’s fingers, his eyes radiating confusion. “Where you killed me.” Lewis growled, waiting for Arthur’s realization, so he could finally get the satisfaction he craved. It never came, Arthur shook his head.

“Kill you? Why would I-” Arthur eyebrows lowered and his words dissolved into wet coughs. Lewis grabbed Arthur’s shirt in a fist and pulled him up a little on the stalagmite, causing the man to wince. Arthur glanced to his side, at the limp figure of his metal arm. Lewis followed his gaze and released his shirt, eyes caught on the prosthetic limb. In his memory, the one memory burned irreversibly inside of his skull, of that night in the cave, the image of that arm was stained an eerie green.

Arthur drew in a ragged breath, gripping onto Lewis’ hand desperately, looking into his eyes in fear. “Hurts.” He muttered, and despite himself, the ghost turned his hand over and let Arthur take it. “Need to tell you- before it’s too late, again.” He muttered desperately. “I-I…” Arthur attempted, but the words seemed stuck in his throat.

Lewis felt the ragged pain in his chest increase, it seemed to be expanding with every moment that Arthur faded away. Bits of his heart-shaped anchor chipped away and one sorrowful deadbeat watched from the corner. “I’m- glad- I got to see you again.” Arthur wheezed, his blinks growing sluggish. He smiled, his teeth stained an angry pink with blood, and ran his thumb along Lewis’ hand. Arthur’s face was horribly pale and his breaths came in painful and shallow, but his eyes still seemed warm as they focused on Lewis.

Arthur was smiling even as his tears came quicker and his body twitched. The ghost waited.

“I…I love you.” Arthur said.

And just like that, he was gone. His head tilted back, his eyes closed, tears still running along his skin and a small smile still at his lips. Lewis was left holding his hand, the warmth fading from it rapidly.

The cave vanished in a flurry of purplish light, Arthur fell to the floor of the truck with a thud, his body crumpling. Lewis went down to his knees with him, still gripping Arthur’s hand, looking down on the bloody red hole he’d punched in his friend’s chest.

Then, Lewis was wracked with an agony he’d only felt once before. Like a burning ice chasing its way along his veins and shooting along his nerves. He curled in on himself, still holding Arthur’s hand as the pain spread. His limbs were alight with the sensation of pins and needles along his skin, a horrible, deep piercing that seemed to strike to the bone. Every breath sent out ripples of electric anguish racing up his spine. His heartbeat felt like a sledgehammer against the inside of his chest, the shockwaves vibrating in his ribs and jaw.

Wait.

Veins, Nerves, Skin, Lungs, Heart.

Lewis’ eyes, which had been squeezed shut against the onslaught of pain, flew open to look down at himself.

The dark, ethereal material of his suit was making way for a familiar outfit worn over his gradually reappearing skin. The purple fire around his skull grew heavy, becoming strands of real hair falling into the sensitive flesh of his eyes and tickling his temples. The floor pressed into his knees as his weight returned. The moment he could feel a tongue in his mouth again, settled behind his teeth, Lewis began to scream.

Life was returning to his body, and it was excruciating. It had begun at the edges and was slowly making its way inward, until all that remained was a hole on one side of his chest where his fragile anchor still hovered.

As the ring of sensation closed around that last remaining dead place, Lewis’ cries grew louder. He was certain he couldn’t take this much pain, surely he would collapse or pass out or die all over again.

Then, as abruptly as it had begun, it was over. The agony slipped away, leaving behind the sensations of the warm night air, the smell of breakfast foods in the back of the truck, the sounds of Lewis’ own breath, and one other sound.

That of something shattering.

Lewis looked down to see where his anchor, the heart-shaped locket, had fallen, no longer held aloft by his ghostly magic, and broken to pieces on the metal floor.

Lewis looked to his hand, still clutching Arthur’s, and upon seeing the familiar brown skin he knew. He was alive. Somehow, he was alive again, but the man beneath him was not.

He leaned over the body, looking into the still face, and several terrible, cold realizations dawned upon him at once.

Arthur hadn’t known he was dead.

Arthur loved him.

And if both of those things were true, Arthur murdering Lewis made a whole lot less sense than it once had.

And the person Lewis needed to ask about it, Arthur…

Well, Arthur was dead.

The sound of a gunshot wrenched Lewis from his thoughts. He snapped his gaze to the back of the truck, toward where the noise seemed to originate. Shortly thereafter, he heard a woman’s scream.

Vivi was not the type to scream frequently for any reason other than delight, but Lewis knew her well enough to recognize her voice. He was on his feet in an instant and charging toward the truck exit as fast as his legs would carry him.

It was not particularly fast, since it had been a while since he’d had to walk. He was still readjusting to using his legs rather than floating, so he stumbled more than anything. Once he reached door he could hear the commotion outside. Growling, shouting, some kind of metallic slicing. Lewis’ fingers scrabbled at the door handle, trying to get the thing open. He huffed in frustration at the clumsiness of his body, he didn’t remember it being this difficult to do things the last time he’d been alive.

Vivi screamed again, though the quality of the sound was different this time, and Lewis finally managed to wrench the door open.

The bluenette was clinging to the weird tree lady from behind, her bat against the creature’s throat and her legs wrapped around the torso. She was emitting a high-pitched roar as the green-skinned woman attempted to throw her off, but Lewis knew all too well that Vivi was like a cockle-burr when she wanted to be, the tree-lady didn’t stand a chance.

Against the wall of Kingsmen Mechanics, a massive, multi-tailed dog creature was struggling to keep a huge pair of scissors with eyes from snapping shut on himself and Arthur’s uncle Lance, who was slumped over and unconscious against the bricks.

Lewis punched a hand out toward the tree woman, only to remember that he no longer had any fire powers. The gesture threw off his balance and he toppled out of the back of the truck, front-first into the dirt.

The commotion caught the attention of the kitsune and the tree-lady, giving their respective opponents a brief advantage.

Vivi managed to pull the woman down so her feet were on the ground instead of wrapped around the taller woman’s torso. The tree lady, for her part, was bent over backwards and absolutely furious. Vivi released her head from where it was trapped in the vice she had made with her bat and stepped backward. Unable to remain upright, the tree woman fell, her eyes wide in surprise. Barely a second passed before Vivi had raised the bat and brought it straight down on the woman’s head, smashing it like a melon.

By the mechanic shop, the scissors had noticed the kitsune’s distraction and used it to slice into his paws. With a short howl, the animal recoiled, allowing the scissors to snap shut around his sides, eliciting a longer roar of pain. Blood matted his white fur as the dual blades sliced into him. After a moment of thrashing, which only dug the scissors deeper, he lunged forward and clamped his jaw around the center of the weapon, his teeth over the thing’s eyes. Despite the pain he was clearly being put through, he stood and began walking forward, the scissors trapped in his mouth even as he was trapped in theirs.

The moment Vivi’s bat slammed onto the tree woman’s head, the scissors flinched as though they sensed the destruction of their wielder. In that same moment, the kitsune tore them painfully away from his sides, leaving jagged cuts in their wake.

He performed a single spin, building momentum, and at the end of his turn he released his jaw and launched the scissors into the air like a discus, the weapon’s eyes wide with distress as it vanished into the night sky.

Lewis scrambled to his feet and dashed over to where Vivi was standing beside the tree woman and staring with wide eyes at the place in the sky where the scissors had just been flung. He scooped the woman into his arms, causing her to shriek in surprise and swing the bat in his general direction.

They bonked him on the head, not too hard, but enough to remind him that he hadn’t felt pain in a while, and he did not miss it.

Despite Vivi’s reaction, Lewis hadn’t come a moment too soon, for just as he lifted her the tree woman had sprouted a new head and leapt at them, her pointed teeth bared and her fists swinging with furious speed. Lewis scrambled back with Vivi in his arms in an effort to avoid the attacks, but tripped and fell, the earth digging into his back as the woman approached, her eyes wild with rage directed at the bluenette.

Before she could get too close, the kitsune landed between her and the two humans with a deep growl. The tree woman’s face shifted immediately into an expression of fear, and with one final glance at Vivi, she disappeared into the earth, leaving only a crumbling hole in her wake.

The group breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Lewis looked up at the blue-haired woman who had fallen atop him and he couldn’t help the wave of joy that filled him, his eyes watering at the sight of her. She looked down at him, and immediately her eyebrows lowered and she scrambled off of his chest to her feet, backing away.

“Vivi, it’s—”

Lewis didn’t get the chance to finish as a large paw suddenly slammed onto his chest and pinned him to the ground.

“What are you?” The kitsune rumbled, his teeth bared and his eyes glowing red.

“Mystery! Stop! He saved me.” Vivi shouted, causing the animal to lessen the pressure, but only slightly.

“Mystery!?” Lewis squeaked.

“Answer the question.” The dog, but definitely, obviously not a dog demanded.

“It’s me, it’s Lewis!” The man insisted.

“Lewis? The guy Artie was looking for?” Vivi asked, stepping closer, her eyes glued to his face as if in some kind of stupor.

The mention of Arthur stung, both because it was a reminder of what Lewis had done, and because it confirmed that the man had been looking for him, unaware of his demise, somehow.

“Impossible, Lewis is dead.” Mystery ground out, his expression shifting minutely from one of anger to one of sorrow.

“Dead? Wait, what?” Vivi tore her eyes away from Lewis to look at her dog incredulously. “Why’s Arthur looking for a dead guy?”

“He doesn’t know Lewis is dead.” Mystery explained.

Lewis attempted to push up against the paw that was holding him down when something occurred to him.

“Why would you know and not Arthur?” He questioned, earning a hard glare from the kitsune.

“You still have not answered my question. What are you?” Mystery lowered his face until it was inches from Lewis’.

“My name is Lewis Pep—”

“Do not lie to me!” The dog roared, his voice cracking with emotion in the middle of the sentence.

“I’m not!” Lewis shouted back, taking up fistfuls of the animal’s white fur where he could reach it on his leg.

“I watched Lewis Pepper fall to his death and I’ve seen him returned to this world as a spirit. It is impossible for you to be him, returned to life, unless…” The dog trailed off. Behind his tiny glasses, his eyes grew wide and his nose twitched as if catching onto a scent. He looked up and toward the truck.

“No.” He muttered, before bounding off into the back of the vehicle, freeing Lewis to sit up and catch his breath. He looked to the side to see Vivi standing at a distance clutching her bat and eyeing him warily. He extended a hand and opened his mouth to speak to her, only to be cut off by the wretched, inhuman howl that echoed from inside the truck.

Lewis flinched and curled in on himself, he knew what that noise meant.

Mystery emerged from the darkness of the semi slowly and purposefully, advancing toward Lewis as he spoke, his voice strained and thin.

“You.” He growled brokenly. “I thought that if anyone was kind enough in life to be spared the misfortune of becoming a monster in death, it would be you.” Lewis scooted backward, away from the kitsune. “I never thought you, you of all people, would stoop so low as to commit such an atrocity, against anyone, but least of all against your own friend.”

Just as it seemed Mystery might lunge forward and seize Lewis in his great, sharp maw, Vivi was there and standing between them. The kitsune balked at the woman.

“Vivi, what are—”

“No.” She snapped.

“What? Vivi, get out of my—”

“No, you don’t get to do anything else until someone explains to me exactly what is happening.” The woman demanded, her eyes shining even as her expression grew angrier.

“Vivi.” Mystery started, gently.

“No! You know what? No.” The woman ripped off her glasses and began angrily cleaning the pink lenses with her scarf whilst wiping her wet cheeks on her shoulders. After a moment of her catching her breath, she put her glasses back on and turned to Mystery. “You’re gonna sit down,” the dog sat, “and tell me why the van is wrecked, why I almost got stabbed by some crazy tree lady, why my dog’s a kitsune, and what’s going on with my boyfriend, my boyfriend? Is that right?” She trailed off, but just as Lewis opened his mouth to reply she shook her head and barreled on. “My boyfriend, who I only kind of remember, the guy Arthur’s been looking for, is dead but also not? Also, where the hell is Arthur!?” Vivi’s voice cracked as she looked around for her friend, Lewis felt it like a punch in the gut and Mystery flinched as well, glaring at Lewis venomously.

“Took the words right outta my mouth.” A deep, gravelly voice came from behind Vivi. Everyone jumped and turned to the speaker, a squat man with spiky yellow hair, bent over and holding his shoulder in pain.

“Lance!” Vivi shouted and darted over to the man, holding herself back when she saw the state he was in. The man threw her a tired smile, which she returned, then offered his hand, which she took gratefully, clinging to the one seemingly normal thing in her life.

A blink later, and Mystery was back down to his regular size. A smallish dog, looking miserably at Lewis, Vivi, and Lance, his tail tucked between his legs and his ears flat against his head. Lewis, for his part, had scooched a little back and now had his arms wrapped around his knees. It didn’t stop Lance from noticing him.

“Lewis, Lewis Pepper, is that you?” The man asked, his back straightening and his face brightening. Lewis got tentatively to his feet and nodded stiffly. He found himself longing for Lance’s usual gruff and stoic attitude, that would have been less painful than the grin that spread across the man’s features.

Lance laughed, his eyes shining, and marched over to Lewis. Despite himself, Lewis flinched, but the man didn’t notice as he pulled him into an awkward, one-armed hug. Somehow getting that one hand on the back of Lewis’ neck despite being so much shorter than him.

“It’s good to see you in one piece my boy.” Lance said, working to keep his voice level and patting Lewis firmly on the back a few times before pulling away, one hand on his shoulder. “Arthur has been tearing himself to pieces looking for you, he’s gonna be thrilled you’re alright.” He turned to Vivi with the same watery smile. “Maybe the punk’ll finally get some sleep and a decent meal, knowing this one’s safe and sound.”

Lance kept chuckling and patting Lewis’ shoulder, and Vivi left out a little breath of amusement, but there was an edge to it all, where it was covering up their shared pain and relief.

Lewis wanted to scream, or run as far away as he possibly could, as fast as he could, or curl up and cry until there wasn’t a drop of water left in his body and he’d turn to dust and mix with the desert. Instead, he stood stock still, his eyes glued to Lance.

The man finally pulled away and went back to massaging his shoulder. He began looking around, first to Vivi, then to Mystery, who was staring with a blank anger at the ground, then his eyes finally settled on Lewis.

“So, where is my nephew?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to angstville!  
> Hope you enjoyed this so far, leave a comment and let me know what you thought. I'll be trying to update as regularly as I can!  
> Thank you for reading!


	2. Disappearances and Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis gets a chance to talk with his friends and Shiromori gains an ally.

Lewis stared into Lance’s face. The man looked tired, in pain, but also happy. He was happy to see Lewis alive, relieved that Arthur would get to see his friend again. He didn’t know, he had no idea, that his nephew, the only family he really had, was dead.

And Lewis had killed him.

Lewis opened his mouth to answer Lance’s question, but found that his lungs were empty and burning for air. He’d neglected to breath, he wasn’t used to having to do it again, and his chest ached for that and one other reason.

In the end, after Lance’s eyebrows lowered in concern, Lewis pointed dumbly to the open back of the truck. Lance followed the gesture with his eyes, and after glancing at Lewis in confusion, began walking toward the vehicle.

Lance had no idea what was waiting for him in the dark maw of that semi, he didn’t have a clue, and Lewis didn’t have the strength to tell him.

Vivi looked like she wanted to follow, but Lewis knew full well he only had a few moments left where she wouldn’t utterly despise him. As selfish as it sounded, he wanted at least one last chance to see her look at him the way she once did, before everything went so wrong.

“Vivi, you remember me?” He asked tentatively, reaching toward her.

“Kind of, things are fuzzy and coming back in bits.” She replied, rubbing her elbow nervously and throwing him an apologetic smile at the same time as stepping away. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault.” Lewis reassured her, lowering his outstretched hand and compulsively bringing it to the place where his anchor once floated. _It’s my fault_ he didn’t say. He had been the one to take her memories. In his last moments he’d seen the abject horror in her face and desperately reached out remove the source. He’d been too thorough and erased himself entirely.

Now that his ghostly abilities had vanished, it was only a matter of time as the memories slipped from where they had been sealed in his own mind back into hers. At this rate, she’d recall losing one friend just in time to be confronted with the loss of another.

“So, I’m still confused, are you dead?” Vivi asked, raising an eyebrow at Mystery and he walked slowly over. Lewis shook his head at the same time that the dog replied with a firm “Not anymore.”

“Not anymore? What does that mean?” She questioned.

“It means that Lewis died, became a spirit, and now has returned to life.” Mystery replied, and Vivi huffed in annoyance, dropping her hands onto her hips.

“Care to elaborate?”

“You remember the ghost that we encountered some time back? In the mansion?” The dog asked in response, moving closer to the bluenette and looking up at her tiredly.

“Yeah.” She said, suppressing an excited grin. Lewis’ heart jumped at the sight. Still the same old Vivi, thrilled at every prospect of the paranormal.

“That was me.” Lewis finished, raising a hand lamely as if his name had just been called for attendance. Vivi’s eyes widened briefly in glee before they clouded with confusion and worry.

“So you were dead.”

“Yes.” Lewis replied, the familiar spark of anger jumping in his gut as he thought back to why that was the case.

Lance sure was taking a while in the back of the truck. Would he understand why Lewis had done what he’d done once he found out that Arthur had killed him? Would Lewis even get the chance to explain?

“But now you’re alive?” Vivi continued.

“Yes.” Lewis replied again.

“How?” She pressed.

“Through the oldest magic there is.” Mystery stated, glaring at the man in question. Vivi took a deep, frustrated breath before rounding on the dog.

“I’m sure being super vague feels really cool to you, but for the rest of us it’s just confusing. This is just the first of a whole truckload of questions I have so unless you’d like to only eat kibble for the next week I suggest you get to the point.” She told the dog, whose ears fell at the mention of kibble before he shook himself out of it and got to talking.

“One of the simplest and most powerful forms of magic is that of exchange, where one being gives something it possesses to another being, or that something is taken.”

“Isn’t that just, like, gifting or stealing?” Vivi asked, earning a scoff from Mystery.

“The magic only applies when the exchange is of something that can’t typically be given or taken. Such as memories.” The dog explained, looking pointedly at Lewis, who felt himself sweating, another function he had grown used to not having. “Or, in this case, life.”

“So, what you’re saying is, Lewis died, but he’s not dead anymore because of some kind of magic exchange?” Vivi clarified.

“Precisely.” The dog growled, not taking is eyes off Lewis, who could feel his heart pounding and his ears roaring as the inevitable realization grew ever closer.

Where was Lance? Why hadn’t he come back to blast a new hole in Lewis’ chest?

“Wait, doesn’t that mean that someone else needed to die so Lewis could live again?” The woman reasoned, but the end of her question trailed off as her eyes began darting back and forth in thought.

“That’s exactly what that means.” Mystery ground out. Vivi looked up, seeming to have realized something, her eyes moving to the truck. Lewis wanted to throw up.

“You…you were the ghost at the mansion. You attacked Artie.” She stated, looking at Lewis. Despite how much it felt like his bones were filling with cement, he nodded. “You- the truck, you chased us. You had Arthur in there.” Her eyes grew wider with every word and her breath quickened.

Finally, she froze, her gaze snapped to Lewis’ face.

“You wouldn’t.” She whispered, Lewis felt his heart breaking all over again, even though there was no anchor to display it visually. “He wouldn’t.” She said to Mystery, her eyes pleading with the dog to agree with her, but he only lowered his gaze. “He’s your friend, you wouldn’t.” She insisted desperately to Lewis again, her voice cracking as she backed away from him.

“Vivi—”

“He’s been looking for you! It’s all he’s thought about since he got out of the hospital. He sits up all night, skips meals, doesn’t take care of himself, because he’s too busy trying to find you!” She was shouting now, and Lewis felt every word like a punch. “You wouldn’t, he cares about you, he’s your friend!”

“I’m sorry.” Lewis tried, but Vivi was shaking her head and hyperventilating. She turned away from him and looked desperately at Mystery again. The dog met her gaze miserably. She curled in as if she’d just been struck and kept shaking her head. Then, she abruptly set off marching toward the semi.

“Arthur!” She shouted, and Lewis winced.

“Arthur Kingsmen you come out of there right now!” She called into the darkness of the truck back.

“I don’t care if Lance is done hugging you or not, you get out here and give me my hug right this instant!” Her voice echoed back to her, but there came no other reply.

“Arthur!” She screamed, her voice breaking as a sob spilled out of her despite her efforts to appear tough and demanding. She stood there with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot, waiting for Arthur to emerge sheepishly at any moment.

Lewis knew he wouldn’t, as did Mystery, and Vivi knew too if the tears falling down her cheeks were any indication.

“Arthur?” She muttered hoarsely, dropping her hands and her head and doing her best not to completely break down as the absence of the mechanic made the situation clearer and clearer.

Just as Lewis moved to approach her, a gruff voice came from the front of the truck.

“This some kind of a joke?” Lance hollered as he stomped over. He looked irritated and confused, in one hand he was holding a familiar metal prosthetic arm. He frowned at the group one by one, settling on Lewis. “I looked up and down the damn truck and didn’t see a trace of my nephew, except for the arm.” He stated, holding the limb aloft.

“What!?” Lewis and Mystery replied incredulously. At the same time they took off running for the back of the truck. The dog leapt in and Lewis followed close behind, clambering in with slightly less gracelessness than when he had tumbled out earlier. Vivi snapped out of her sorrow and also jumped into the truck, Lance joining them last with some grumbling about his knees and how he’d already looked in there.

The man hadn’t been lying, Arthur’s body was gone. All that remained was a large pool of blood and the arm that Lance was clutching. At the front of the container some of the metal had been ripped open to make another exit.

“I meant to ask what the deal with the blood was.” Lance added hesitantly, not getting to close to the stain, it seemed to make him uncomfortable. Vivi, Mystery, and Lewis could only stare at it.

“He was here.” Lewis muttered, earning a wretched glare from the dog and the bluenette. It was confirmation of what they’d dreaded.

Mystery lowered his nose to the floor and began sniffing, following a set of bloody footprints to the paneling that had been torn open, from the inside if the jagged outline of the hole was any indication. He lifted his nose to one such sharp protrusion that had a scrap of orange fabric clinging to it. A few breaths later and the dog recoiled with a fearful growl.

“What is it? Is he ok?” Vivi asked hopefully.

“No, no he is not.” Mystery replied.

* * *

o-o-o-o-o

Shiromori was furious, her teeth bared and her eyes wide as she drove her fist into the trunk of a tree, reducing it to splinters and sending it crashing to the ground. She mumbled to herself, cursing the name of that stupid mutt in every possible arrangement of words she could think of. She approached another tree, and with a roar she punched that one down as well.

She stood facing the jagged stump she’d just made, coiled like a spring and breathing hard.

“Isn’t that, like, fratricide or something?” A voice inquired from the darkness.

Shiromori spun to look for the source, her fists raised. Punching trees made her feel a little better, but pulverizing some idiot of flesh and blood might bring a smile to her face despite the failures of the day. She didn’t see anyone.

“Y’know, because you’re a tree and those were trees, so it’s a little like killing your siblings, right?” The voice continued, and Shiromori glowered into the darkness.

“Not even close.” She growled as a reply.

“That’s fair, I guess it’s closer to murder since you’re not necessarily related to other trees, you’re just the same species.” The voice reasoned, but there was a teasing edge to its tone.

“We’re nothing alike.” Shiromori spat, rounding to look another direction. The patch of trees was sparse, this place was too dry for a dense forest, meaning there weren’t many places for the mysterious speaker to hide. Yet she couldn’t locate them, their voice seemed to come from everywhere, and a dense, greenish fog was obscuring what little she could see in the dim light.

“Alright, no need to get touchy.” The voice said. “Before I show myself and give you the chance to pulverize me, I want to make you an offer.” The voice crooned.

“Not interested.” Shiromori rumbled.

“You don’t even know what it is yet.” The voice whined.

“Don’t care, ripping you to shreds will be more satisfying than anything else you can give me.” She stated, a crooked grin spreading across her face and her tongue running across her bottom lip.

“Even a helping _hand_ to destroy that kitsune and his blue-haired companion?”

Shiromori froze, her smile fading. The voice knew more about her than it should have, enough to deeply tempt her into accepting, but she hesitated.

“How about a peace offering? To prove we’re on the same side.” The voice suggested, and a moment later something sailed out of the looming fog and landed at her feet with a metallic clang.

It was her scissors. They were dirty and scuffed up, the eyes tired and unhappy, but still alive. She scooped them up and returned them to their normal size, they vibrated happily in her capable hands, especially as she began gently cleaning them.

“Why would you help me?” She inquired, making it appear that she was lowering her guard even as she remained ready for a fight.

“Because you’re not the only one that mutt has screwed over, and you’re not the only one who needs a little extra life and has to get it from someone else.” The voice explained, their confident tone tinged with anger.

“So, what?” Shiromori prompted.

“So, I help you kill the dog and the girl. You get the dog’s blood, I get the girl’s life, and we both get our revenge.” The voice seemed excited, even hungry as it spoke. Shiromori was inclined to the same feelings, she wanted to accept, but not yet.

“Why the girl? There’s a lot more life in a centuries-old kitsune, and other humans would be easier game.” She asked.

“Unlike you, I can’t use the life of a kitsune, I need a human. As for the girl, call it petty vengeance, I don’t like her or any of her pesky friends.” The voice stated blandly.

“Why not kill the scrawny blonde one then? It’d be easy, he’s practically half-dead already.” She chuckled darkly at the thought. She’d barely caught a few glimpses of the boy, but the wilting flower she’d grown to trace his essence was enough to tell her all she needed to know.

“You have no idea.” The voice replied, sounding closer than before and off to Shiromori’s right. She spun to face it, her scissors at the ready. From the fog, a humanoid figure emerged.

It was the boy himself, the skinny human with the essence of a withered sunflower. His eyes were a vivid, glowing green surrounded by black. His skin was a shade to match, a decayed and putrescent olive color. His hair remained yellow and spiked, but the orange vest was gone, leaving only a white shirt and yellow pants.

Except both were stained a dark, ugly color, closer to black than anything else, with dirt and blood. There was a gaping hole in his middle, Shiromori could see clear through it, and his left arm looked rotten, and barely attached, a third eye glaring from the palm.

The demonic entity that was possessing this dead body grinned in cruel amusement at Shiromori’s surprise. She recovered quickly.

“That explains why that flaming poltergeist was back to his useless living form.” She said, looking the creature up and down. She could feel the power radiating off of them, a vile energy that would have turned her stomach if she had one in the traditional sense.

“Indeed.” The creature spat, strolling closer to Shiromori. “I’m a little offended that this idiot got all the credit for my murder, but at least I didn’t have to die a second time.”

“You killed the boy with the purple hair.” She stated.

“I did, but your kitsune ruined my attempt to return to life by ripping me from this body before the exchange was complete.” They explained, glaring into their own eye and at their arm, which Shiromori could see had a mangled seam where it had been reattached.

“He has a habit of ruining perfectly good things.” She growled, earning another wicked smile from the entity.

“That he does.” They said.

“Why not kill the purple one again?” She asked, finally relaxing into her growing excitement.

“Already had a taste of that, time for something new.” The entity replied nonchalantly, glancing around with disinterest before return their unsettling gaze to Shiromori with a smile. “Besides, since he’s already made the mistake of killing one person that loves him, I think it would be more fun to make him watch as I kill the other.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun.  
> It's ???, and now they've got a whole Arthur corpse to get around with! Oh no.  
> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment and let me know what you think so far, I'll keep trying to update at a reasonable rate.  
> Also, I had a hard time finding out what kind of flower Shiromori had in relation to Arthur, somewhere said it was a sunflower but let me know if I got that wrong.


	3. Searching for Arthur (and Answers)

The walk was agonizingly quiet. There was only the sounds of their feet crunching in the dust and gravel to break up the tense silence. Lewis couldn’t even hear his two companions breathing, they both seemed taught, and ready to snap at any moment.

It was just him, Mystery, and Vivi. Mystery was at the lead, nose to the ground, following Arthur’s trail. Vivi was a step or two behind, wielding a massive flashlight to illuminate the way and her baseball bat. Lewis took up the back, clutching only his own elbows.

They’d convinced Lance to stay at the auto shop, which had been a feat in of itself. They’d said it was because he was hurt, and someone needed to stay back in case Arthur returned to the garage. They didn’t say it was because Arthur was dead, and if he came with them he was bound to find that out sooner rather than later.

Lewis couldn’t bring himself to tell the man and face the inevitable questions that followed. Questions that, if answered, would reveal Lewis for what he was. A murderer. Vivi and Mystery had silently agreed to keep Lance in the dark, but Lewis suspected it had more to do with sparing him the pain that was sure to come from learning of his nephew’s death, if only for a little while longer.

They’d set off with their supplies to find Arthur, which had brought them to this point of walking silently through the dry wilderness, tense and unhappy, none of them sure what was going to happen next.

Mystery stopped abruptly at the head of the group, his sniffing growing louder and more excited.

“Is it him?” Vivi asked quietly, her grip on the flashlight turning her knuckles paper white. Mystery shook his head and trotted off to the left. He returned a moment later with an orange vest clutched in his mouth. There was a gaping hole in the back and the whole thing was soaked with blood.

Vivi took in a sharp breath at the sight, her shoulders hunching as she took a few steps back. Mystery’s face scrunched up as he spat the garment out.

“Well, we know he’s been here.” The dog offered flatly, no real optimism in his voice. Vivi scoffed bitterly.

“Great, just great. Do we have any idea how his shambling corpse made it all the way out here?” She spat angrily, walking away from the bloody vest and purposefully keeping her light off of it.

“I have a few theories.” Mystery offered.

“Do any of them involve Arthur not being actually dead?” Vivi asked with her back turned.

“…No.” The dog answered softly, earning a rough chuckle from the bluenette. There was a long, tight silence before Lewis spoke up.

“Maybe we should just go back.” He suggested.

“What?” Vivi asked as she rounded on him slowly.

“We’re not going to find him, we should just go back to the shop.” Lewis said, with more confidence this time. Vivi squinted at him.

“Things are still a bit fuzzy, but I don’t remember you being a coward.” She stated sharply, after a pause, she shrugged and turned away from him. “Then again, I don’t remember you being a murderer either, so what do I know?”

“I’m not—” Lewis started to say, but cut himself off. He didn’t like it, but he had done what he’d done, and there was no going back now. “I’m not the only one.” He stated instead.

“What does that mean?” Vivi asked, Mystery, too, looked perplexed.

“I wish I hadn’t killed Arthur, truly,” Lewis began, causing Vivi to flinch, “but I didn’t do any worse to him than he did to me.”

“Are you implying what I think you are?” Mystery rumbled, but beneath a thin layer of anger was genuine curiosity.

“I didn’t just drop dead one day out of the blue.” Lewis explained, looking to Vivi earnestly. “Vivi, I know it’s hard to believe, but Arthur killed me.”

The silence that followed was like a wire drawn tight enough to cut stone.

Mystery opened his mouth to speak, but Vivi beat him to it.

“Are you serious?” She muttered.

“What?” Lewis replied in confusion.

“Are you fucking serious right now?” She asked, her eyes blazing. Lewis opened his mouth to say something in return, but Vivi stomped up to him and grabbed a hold of his ascot, yanking him down so they were face to face.

“You listen to me, I may not have all my memories, but I remember enough to know that’s a load of crap.” She growled, her volume rising as she spoke. “Arthur can’t even bring himself to kill spiders and you expect me to believe he killed you? You? His best friend? The guy he’d do anything for, including join a ghost-hunting group despite the fact he can’t so much as watch a trailer for Ghostbusters without getting scared?” She shoved Lewis away angrily and glared at him as he stumbled. “No, no, I know my friend better than that, and I guess it was stupid to assume you did too.”

“Vivi, you don’t remember that night, I do. He pushed me—” Lewis tried to explain after recovering.

“He was possessed.” Mystery piped up. Both Vivi and Lewis turned to look at him.

“What?” They asked in unison.

“The night in the cave, it was Arthur’s arm that pushed you to your death, but not Arthur. He was overtaken by an entity that wanted to kill you so it could return to life, through the same magic that restored you tonight.” Everyone stared at the dog, but he did not raise his eyes from the ground in front of his paws. “I…removed the entity before it could overtake Arthur completely and complete the exchange of life, but it was too late to save you.” He finished, finally raising his eyes to meet the gazes of his two companion.

“…removed?” Vivi prompted, Mystery’s ears flattened at the question.

“The entity was in Arthur’s arm, there wasn’t time for an exorcism.” The dog said miserably. Lewis thought back to the metal prosthetic Arthur had been equipped with in place of his left arm.

“You-you ripped Arthur’s arm off?” Vivi sputtered. Mystery didn’t reply, but his failure to deny it was answer enough. “You put him through-you…The months of pain and…” She couldn’t get the full thought out, instead settling on turning away from the group and shaking her head.

Lewis, for his part, was standing numbly, only half-watching everything going on in front of him. He couldn’t stop going back through the memory of that night. Of Arthur’s grinning, no, half-grinning face, half-weeping. Of the greenish tint to that arm as it pushed him. Of the scream that he heard as he fell, not his own, not Vivi’s, although they were screaming too. He was scarcely breathing as he realized more and more that Mystery was telling the truth. The implications of which made Lewis want to die all over again.

“I’m sorry, at the time, there was no other way. Perhaps, if I had realized sooner, or if I had paid more attention and kept us from entering—” Mystery’s dog-like form seemed to waver as he spoke, as if he was having a hard time keeping it together, but the moment Vivi interrupted him it became solid once more.

“How do you know all this?” She asked, unusually calm.

“I, what?” The dog replied.

“How. Do you. Know. All of this?” She asked again, her calmness turning deadly.

“Well, the night it happened, I was there. We all were, but I retained my memories of the event. Lewis took yours and Arthur’s were taken by the entity.” Mystery explained in a cautious but matter-of-fact tone.

Vivi stared at him for a long moment, her face blank.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” She said through clenched teeth. “Or Arthur? Or anyone at all?”

“Well, I—” The dog began.

“You didn’t think that maybe we deserved to know what happened? Even after the mansion? That maybe, if you had said something, anything at all, we might have spoken to Lewis, told him the truth, and maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t be learning all this only now, now that Arthur is fucking _dead_?” She was looming over the dog now, teardrops falling onto her glasses as she glared down at the cowering kitsune.

“I-I—”

“No. You didn’t think to say anything, and here we are.” She finished in a heartbroken whisper. She stepped away from the dog and sat down on a rock. “Any other earth-shattering secrets you want to share before another one of us dies?” She asked with poisonous sarcasm.

“Well, actually.” Mystery began softly, causing Vivi to laugh humorlessly. When the dog paused, she motioned tiredly for him to continue. The dog winced, but kept speaking. “The tree-woman you encountered, her name is Shiromori, and she was after me.” Mystery paused, looking around for any kind of reaction. Vivi was just listening, she looked exhausted. Lewis was still frozen in place, barely breathing, as if he was waiting to wake up from a nightmare. The dog sighed and continued.

“Centuries ago, in a time when I was very different than I am now, I passed some of my life force into the last flower in a dying forest. I gave it my blood, and it grew into the being you met. After that first taste, nothing was ever enough, she demanded more, so we took the life of anyone who wandered our way. She grew from a flower into a great and deadly forest. The story spread of the life-eating kitsune, as no one suspected the forest itself. It was believed that if one could kill me they would gain my power, so warriors came from far and wide to challenge me. They all failed, until one woman came, armed with a sword of magic and no desire for power, only an end to the senseless death. That woman, was your ancestor Vivi.”

The bluenette burst out in an incredulous laugh before falling quiet and listening closely. Mystery continued the tale.

“Your ancestor spilled my blood, the forest soaked it up and grew stronger. Shiromori had been waiting for someone to defeat me so she could claim my life-force for her own. Once we realized this, the warrior and I banded together to destroy her. We were able to cut her down almost completely, but some piece of her survived and hunts me to this day to regain the power I deprived her of. She out for my blood.” The dog finally fell silent, waiting for his two companions to respond.

“Wild.” Vivi stated blandly before getting up and kicking at the dirt.

“That’s all you have to say? That it’s ‘wild’” Mystery asked, growing a little indignant.

“No, your story is insane, and incredible, and any other time I’d be losing my mind over it. What’s wild is your ego.” She answered, regarding the dog dryly, then Lewis. “Both of yours.”

“Pardon?” The dog interjected.

“You kept this from me, all these years, and you” she said to Lewis “took my memories. Now, everything is as messed up as it could possibly be and it’s all because you two thought you knew what was best for me, you decided what I should and should not know about my own damn life and we’re all paying the price for it.” She finished, glaring at the two people before her. Mystery wilted under her gaze, as did Lewis, finally unfrozen from his stupor.

Vivi shook her head with a mix of anger and sadness. She walked over to the orange vest and tenderly scooped it up. Lewis watched her as she carefully removed two pins from the right lapel. One was the Mystery Skulls logo, the other was a simple blue circle. She cradled them in her palm as she set the bloody garment back on the ground.

“You’d better think of a way to bring Arthur back to life, because at this point, he’s the only one I still trust.” She spat at her friends. She turned back to the ground and seemed to be looking around for something. After a moment, she sighed in exasperation. “Do either of you see a yellow star-shaped pin? It’s Arthur’s favorite and he’s gonna want it back.” She stated, looking to her companions in exhaustion.

“I’ll look.” Lewis replied emptily and began scanning the ground. Mystery nodded and started doing the same. Soon, the three of them were combing the area for the missing pin. Lewis was equipped with Vivi’s phone light while she used the flashlight, Mystery could see fine in the dark. She kept her distance from the two boys.

A little ways off, Lewis was scanning a patch of gravel for anything yellow or shiny. One stone caught his eye, but closer examination revealed it was just an oddly shaped rock covered in mica. He was suddenly reminded that he had been the one to gift Arthur that yellow star pin. He’d seen it and it reminded him of his friend. They’d been younger then, it was before they met Vivi. Arthur had been thrilled and vowed to never take it off.

In a blink, Lewis was on his knees, the phone held limp in one hand while the other rose up to his eyes. Lewis hadn’t even felt it coming, but before he could stop himself he was crying, trying to muffle the sobs in his palm. The tears rolled down into his sleeve and he curled further in on himself, the place where he’d once had a cavernous hole in his chest was throbbing with a new pain.

It was all-consuming, so much like the rage that had driven him to pursue Arthur following his death. That anger had been like fire, ravenously burning up everything within him, and he had let it. Now, all he had were the charred remains of his life, inside of him his skeleton felt blackened, brittle, aching, and ready to fall to ash at any moment.

“Lewis?” Came a soft voice. It was Mystery, but Lewis couldn’t really bring himself to look up. His back rounded as he hunched lower and his shoulders tightened inward. Normally so tall and broad, the man looked small.

Lewis jumped a little when he felt something cold touching his hand. It had been dangling at his side, and he hadn’t noticed that he’d dropped the phone. The cold thing was Mystery’s nose, nuzzling his fingers. Lewis looked miserably over to him, and the dog whined.

Lewis couldn’t hold himself up any longer and buckled forward, his face burying in Mystery’s fur as he wept. One arm moved to wrap around the dog’s neck, the other remained limp beside his knee. The dog sat and let him cry, ears flat and tail tucked between his legs.

“I-I killed him Mystery. I killed him.” He blubbered and the dog could only let out a low whine in response. “He didn’t-he was possessed, he was innocent, and I- I didn’t ask, why didn’t I just…?” The man held his breath to keep from letting out a broken wail. His hands fisted in the dog’s fur, and he felt it shifting beneath him.

Suddenly, Mystery was twice his size. Before Lewis could be too surprised, the kitsune curled around him and laid his large head in the man’s lap. His huge, fluffy tails settled at Lewis’ side, surrounding him in soft, plush warmth. Hesitantly, Lewis began to pet him.

“That’s one thing I always envied in you humans.” Mystery muttered, and Lewis hummed to ask what the kitsune meant. “You can cry.” He elaborated, his voice soft and sad.

Lewis bent over and draped himself over Mystery’s neck, still crying softly. They were completely wrapped around each other.

“We both made so many mistakes Lewis, but it’s not too late to fix them.” The kitsune stated, rising up and picking Lewis up with him. The man stood on shaky legs and nodded, wiping his eyes, which were red and puffy.

The man smacked his lips and glanced around.

“You don’t happen to have any water do you?” He asked, offering a weak smile. Mystery returned it and shook his head. With a weak chuckle Lewis kept talking. “I forgot what it was like to be dehydrated.”

“I’m sure Vivi has some water.” Mystery said. “But first, I want to ask you a question.”

Lewis shrunk a little but nodded anyway. “What is it?” He asked, trying to push his pain back down even as tears still leaked from his eyes.

“Did Arthur say anything to you before he…before he died? Anything about his own life or maybe some feeling toward you?” The kitsune inquired, his keen gaze seemed to cut holes in Lewis’ thin defenses, and in a moment he was blubbering again.

“He…He told me-he told me he loved me.” Lewis managed to get out before breaking into another round of sobs. Mystery only nodded and pressed a little closer as comfort.

“I know now that you didn’t mean to exchange his life for your own. You sought revenge. It’s true he was innocent, but it was my fault and my fault alone that you didn’t know that. However, a complete exchange of life is nearly impossible to accomplish unintentionally.” The kitsune explained, his demeanor much softer than it had been just a short while ago.

“What’s that mean?” Lewis asked through his hiccupping breaths.

“At least one party in an exchange of life must be actively seeking to carry out the transference.” Mystery sighed and looked at Lewis purposefully. “Since you didn’t mean to take Arthur’s life for your own, that must mean he gave it to you willingly.” He finished.

“So…he gave me his life?” Lewis asked.

“Yes. Had he not, he still would have died, but you would have remained a ghost. He wouldn’t have known, but I imagine that by choosing to tell you he loved you in his last moments he ensured that you would be resurrected.”

It took a moment for that information to sink in, settling deep within Lewis like a stone in a lake.

“There’s a lot that I chose not to think about after I died, kind of like forgetting, because it got in the way of my revenge. Good memories of Arthur, that kind of thing.” Lewis said. “But now that it’s gone, I’ve been remembering that stuff, and I think…” He trailed off.

“I think I lo—”

Lewis was cut off by a voice cutting through the night. A familiar voice.

“Vivi?” It shouted. It was Arthur’s voice.

Mystery’s hackles rose in an instant and he bared his teeth in a snarl. Lewis, who had been struck cold on recognizing the voice scrambled for Vivi’s phone in the gravel.

“Vivi? Where are you? Help me!” Arthur’s voice called out again, and Lewis scooped up the phone to shine it in the general direction he heard the voice. The light only revealed a gradually encroaching green mist. Lewis felt his heartbeat accelerating in fear, his breath coming quickly.

“Arthur!” Vivi’s voice rang out, clear and true and oh-so hopeful.

Mystery took off running toward it, Lewis not far behind. The kitsune was much faster, so Lewis was grateful that his large form cut a path through the mist.

“Vivi! Help me!” Came Arthur’s voice.

“No! Vivi! Stay back!” Came Mystery’s answering growl.

A moment later, Lewis stumbled into a clearing surrounded by that eerie green fog. Vivi was in the middle, a little to Lewis’ left, and Mystery was standing between her and a figure on the other side.

Lewis squinted, and the figure took a few steps forward.

It took everything Lewis had not to throw up. The figure looked like Arthur, the hair was still the same, but the skin and eyes were sickly green. The clothes were stained with blood and there was a gaping hole in the middle of his torso.

“Arthur…” Vivi squeaked, her eyes wide and glued to the figure in horror.

“That’s not Arthur.” Mystery rumbled, letting out a distinctly animal growl as the figure took a few steps closer.

“What? Vivi, please, it’s me, I need help. Lewis, he-he…” The figure curled in on himself in a manner very similar to how Arthur often did, and he began to tremble. When he looked up, there were tears flowing from his darkened eyes. “Please, everything hurts, I don’t understand.” He pleaded, reaching out for Vivi.

“Don’t listen to it, it’s the entity I told you about, it’s taken possession of Arthur’s body.” Mystery warned the bluenette as she clung to his fur and looked desperate to rush to this being’s side. Lewis walked forward, closer to his two friends, clutching the phone light for all he was worth. The entity caught sight of him and startled.

“Lewis…Lewis, why?” They asked tearfully. “I thought we were friends…” They said, and no matter how much Lewis reassured himself that it wasn’t Arthur, it was still agony to look at the body he had mangled and hear the voice he had silenced, especially saying things like that.

“Mystery, can’t we do something?” Vivi asked desperately.

“It’s not him Vivi, look at its arm.” Mystery said. All eyes snapped to the limb, reattached despite Mystery’s earlier confession to tearing it off. There was a glowing green eye in the palm.

“Ah, welp, you got me.” The entity replied, the fear and sorrow gone from their face in an instant. Lewis barely had time to notice the green hands wrapped in white extending from the earth before they had grasped Vivi by the ankles.

The bluenette let out a short scream as she was dragged into the earth, her flashlight, baseball bat, and pink glasses clattering to the ground. Lewis and Mystery dove to the spot simultaneously, the kitsune tearing at the earth with all his might, but it was too late, she was gone.

The entity was laughing on the other side of the clearing, a horrible, crooked smile cut across Arthur’s face. Lewis looked up at them, Mystery followed his gaze.

“Back to where it all ended.” They said in a sing-song voice. They winked at Lewis, then disappeared into the fog.

Mystery pounced after them, but his teeth caught nothing but fog. Somehow, the entity had entirely vanished. He roared in anger just as a gust of cool night air drifted by and took the mist with it, leaving the area clear. There was no one in sight but Lewis and Mystery.

The kitsune sniffed around a little, growing more and more frustrated, until he let out a roar and swiped at a tree. His claws cut four deep gashes in its trunk, sending splinters and bark into the air. Lewis was frozen on the spot again, watching Mystery tensely. The kitsune looked up and regarded him worriedly.

“They took her to the cave.” Lewis muttered, and Mystery cocked his head. “The cave where I died, that’s what it meant by ‘back to where it all ended’.” He explained.

“You’re sure?” Mystery asked. Lewis nodded stiffly. “Then that’s where we need to go.” The kitsune said decisively.

“It’s a trap. The tree-lady, Shiromori, she wants your blood like you said.”

“I know, but I’ve let Vivi down enough already, I won’t abandon her now.” Mystery replied. He stepped closer to Lewis and lowered his neck. “Do I need to ask if you’re coming with me?”

It took Lewis a moment, but once he caught on his eyes grew wide and bright despite everything that had happened that night. He began unconsciously bouncing on his feet in excitement. Mystery rolled his eyes.

“Yes, yes, I know. You’ll feel just like Princess Mononoke, now get on.” He grumbled. Lewis didn’t need to be told twice, he swung his leg over Mystery’s neck and held on as best he could with the baseball bat in one hand and Vivi’s glasses in the other. He tucked them into his pocket for safety just as Mystery stood all the way up. Lewis couldn’t refrain from making a nervously excited little noise as it happened.

“Hold on.” Mystery warned him. Lewis leaned forward and grasped as much fur as he could in his hands.

The next second, Mystery was bounding through the night, the wind rushing through his fur and Lewis bouncing on his back, toward Vivi, and certain danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean for so much of this fic to be people talking, but there's a lot that needs to be said since these dorks have no idea how communication works. There's probably going to be more talking in the chapters to come, such is the case when there's still so much that needs revealing, but there should be more action as well.  
> Thank you for reading, please leave a comment! Thank you so much all you who have commented already, I have read all of them and they fill me with joy. I want to respond to each of you, but I'm awkward as heck and never know how.


	4. A Tiny Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galahad makes a new friend and finds an old one.

Galahad had been waiting for his chance to get outside, and it had finally come. Lance had been sitting for a while, then he paced unhappily for a while, then, finally, he grabbed that awful, noisy shotgun off the wall and went outside.

Galahad snuck out after him, squeezing through the last open crack in the door right as it was shutting. Lance didn’t even notice, which was for the best, Galahad wasn’t supposed to be outside, there were lots of big, scary things that wanted to eat him.

Galahad wasn’t scared, he could handle himself. These humans though, they’d made an awful ruckus and the hamster intended to find out what had been going on and whether or not his Arthur was alright.

It was a bumpy ride across the concrete, it always was, Galahad’s wheels were only so big, but it didn’t bother him. His little nose wasn’t too strong, but Arthur’s scent was too powerful to miss, even a human might catch it.

The hamster darted behind the wheel of an unfamiliar truck just as Lance walked by a second time. He was loading the exorcism box from the Mystery Skulls van into his truck. It was what Vivi, Arthur, and Lewis used to get rid of particularly nasty ghosts. When they didn’t turn out to just be greedy people playing dress-up. The box was full of supplies and plastered with bumper stickers from all the places the gang had travelled. Arthur was the one who collected them, ‘all the places we’ve survived’ he’d say.

They used to bring Galahad with them sometimes, when Lewis was still around and Arthur still had both his arms, but not anymore. It made Galahad sad, he liked watching all the different landscapes rush by through the window and listening to his friends’ songs on the radio.

The hamster was pulled out of his recollections by a soft, musical sound coming from the other side of the long semi-truck that Galahad was underneath. He scampered over to it, noticing a slight stirring in the grass.

He approached cautiously, knowing not to trust things rustling in the bushes. Pushing a few blades of dry grass aside, he was briefly blinded by softly glowing purple and yellow light.

The gentle ‘ooo’ that Galahad had followed turned frightened and angry in an instant. A small, oblong ghost reared its head and wailed at Galahad, pulling a scary face with sharp teeth and glaring eyes.

Galahad squeaked and backed away, before stumbling a little on his wheels and falling onto his side. Without his wheels under him, he was unable to get away or move, so he laid there helplessly, his little heart pounding in his heaving chest. The ghost looked guilty and slowly floated over. It righted the hamster and gave him a gentle pat on the head before retreated into the grass and cooing sorrowfully over something there.

Galahad followed tentatively, not wanting to scare the ghost again. He maneuvered over to the spirit and it looked over to him with sad, downturned eyes and a little miserable frown. It was curled around something that was pulsing.

Galahad approached the object, watching with curiosity as the small spike on the sad ghost’s head bounced to the beat of whatever it was holding, becoming crooked in time with the rhythm.

The hamster drew closer to whatever it was and the ghost unfurled itself so he could see.

It was a star, glowing bright purplish-blue and warm on the ground. It was pulsing with an odd life, and Galahad felt compelled to move forward and touch it. It thumped under his tiny paw, and the beat was unmistakably familiar.

He had slept just above that heartbeat many times. He had been there every night while its owner was staying in that awful, too-clean hospital. He hadn’t been allowed, but Arthur had needed him desperately. His body was hurt and his soul was sick, so Galahad had curled up on his chest every night to bring him as much comfort as his tiny warmth possibly could.

Galahad reflexively wrapped his little arms around the star and sniffed it. It was Arthur alright. Scared and sad and hurt and weak, but definitely him. The hamster nuzzled against the surface of the pin that now contained what was left of his friend and tried to make him feel just a little bit better, even though Galahad himself wanted to curl up and never scamper around again at the thought that Arthur might be gone forever, or even changed irreversibly once more. Arthur had already been through so much.

There was the sensation like a familiar, rough palm pressing up and a finger gently scratching at Galahad’s cheek. It was enough to reassure the hamster that his friend could be saved.

Straightening up and taking a determined breath, Galahad decided he would be the one to do it. Goodness knows the humans couldn’t be trusted with his delicate friend, that weird not-dog was no good either, the hamster would have to take matters into his own paws.

Though he could use a bit of help.

He looked up at the sorrowful ghost and did his best to communicate his determination. The ghoul offered him a tiny smile in response. Finally, someone that spoke his language. The spirit bent down and passed its little arms through the star pin, demonstrating its inability to carry the soul anchor, despite being the larger of the two of them.

Galahad puffed his little chest out and scooped up the star. It was actually much lighter than it looked, and he hoisted it above his head with ease. They heard Lance grumbling and shared a look. They went together back out to the wheel where Galahad had been hiding earlier and watched the human.

He was holding a laptop and there was a map of the area displayed with a red dot somewhere away from their current position. Galahad had seen Arthur use the same thing before to try and track Lewis’ phone. He didn’t find anything, but if Galahad knew his people, which he did, he’d say Lance was most likely tracking Arthur’s phone and not Lewis’.

The red dot indicating Arthur’s phone was a ways off, which didn’t make sense if Arthur was here in Galahad’s paws. He looked to the sad ghost, and it shook its head. A moment later, the hamster’s mind was flooded with images of a ghastly green arm that took control of Arthur’s body and stole it away into the night, his phone still in the pants’ pocket.

That meant Lance was going to go toward the wrong Arthur.

Galahad needed to protect his humans, and they needed to help Arthur get better, and Arthur wouldn’t get better if his friends and family were hurt. All the information pointed toward Galahad absolutely needing to get into that truck with Lance.

He turned to the ghost purposefully and let out a few squeaks. Galahad may not have been able to beat out that not-dog for the position of Mystery Skulls mascot, but he knew a thing or two about ghosts, and how they could do above average stuff, especially if they had a physical body to possess.

It took a moment, but the ghost got the idea. It hesitated, but Galahad affirmed his resolve and squeaked again, not breaking eye contact with the spirit. It nodded and smiled at him meekly.

A moment later, it had taken possession of the hamster and they were shooting across the concrete toward Lance’s truck, much faster than Galahad could ever go on his own, their eyes glowing a soft yellow below the gentle bluish-purple light of the star. The truck started just as they got to it, Lance at the wheel and ready to go looking for his nephew, unaware of what was waiting for him in Arthur’s body.

The ghost and Galahad levitated up to the truck bed and buckled themselves in using a little bit of bungee cord. They held tight to the star pin, Arthur’s anchor, as the truck started.

In his mind, Galahad asked his friends, especially Arthur in his arms, to hold on.

He was coming to save the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm putting this one up at the same time as the last one since so many people commented asking after Arthur's soul. Thank you for your comments! Here his soul is! Safe in Galahad's tiny, adorable paws.  
> Honestly, this was such a joy to write. Galahad and the sad deadbeat are a couple of cuties and I love them with all my heart, I hope you do too.  
> Thank you for reading, leave a comment!


	5. The Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone ends up back in the caves where everything first went wrong for a final confrontation.

Vivi woke up slowly, and she woke up angry. She hated being knocked out, she hated being kidnapped, and she really hated being tied up.  The two supernatural jerks had managed to tick all three of those boxes and therefore tick her the fuck off.

Not to mention she’d been hauled through the earth, a new and highly unpleasant experience, after being horrifically confronted by Arthur’s possessed corpse. She would have assumed it was all some kind of terrible nightmare were it not for the fact that she’d _actually_ had a nightmare while she’d been knocked out.

Come to think of it, that nightmare didn’t look so different from her waking world. Was she still unconscious?

There was the same swirling green mist, the same tooth-like stalagmites, the same tunnels leading into the same caves. Only, Arthur wasn’t here, he’d been in the nightmare. As had Mystery, and…

And Lewis.

“Look who’s awake.” Someone sneered from the dark, and Vivi shook her head to make sure she was really awake. The plant-lady, Shiromori, appeared on Vivi’s side, grinning gleefully and clutching her scissors. The entity possessing Arthur emerged on Vivi’s other side and she couldn’t suppress her horror.

Shiromori laughed.

“I’ve waited a long time to see and expression like that on a Yukino face, it’s even better than I imagined.” She chuckled.

“Fuck you.” Vivi spat back, causing the tree-woman’s smile to invert into an angry scowl.

“You vile little—” She began, advancing toward the bluenette.

“Calm down Shiromori, we’re still waiting on our other guests.” The entity stated coolly, keeping their eyes trained on Vivi.

“Can’t you just kill her already? Everything’s ready, and the mutt will come whether she’s alive or not.” Shiromori growled, directing her irritation at the entity instead.

“Patience, it’s all part of the plan.” The entity said without looking away from Vivi. Shiromori grumbled and began to pace.

“You think you’re all cool but as soon as Mystery gets here and gets me out of these ropes I’m gonna kick your butt, Arthur’s body or not.” Vivi threatened the entity, which only caused them to laugh.

“Mystery’s not getting you out of those ropes, and you couldn’t hurt me if you tried.” They said.

“Don’t try me evil Elphaba, I will beat your green apple ass if it’s the last thing I do.”

“You have—wait, Elphaba?” The entity asked.

“From Wicked dumbass.” Vivi deadpanned.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a musical.” Shiromori provided, earning a look from both the entity and Vivi. She blushed and marched indignantly into the mist.

The entity bristled a little. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t get your references, I’ve been trapped here a long time with only a chunk of your friend’s memories to catch me up,” they stated, but then their face broke into a delighted grin, “but that will be more than enough.”

“What is it with everybody and being vague? Just say what you mean, I don’t have all night.” The bluenette snapped.

“You don’t entirely remember the night when I killed your lover, but I do. How about a refresher?”

Before Vivi could respond, she felt herself choking on the mist and her eyes swimming. Images passed through her mind, no, memories, recollections of a night in this exact cave. Vivi had thought it was a nightmare, watching her boyfriend fall screaming from above, only for that scream to be cut short with a horrible wet crunching.

The blood, there was so much blood. Vivi hadn’t been able to breath or cry or do anything but shake her head and stare for all of the ten seconds it took her to stumble backwards and fall. In the next moment, lying on her back, she had no idea who Lewis was, and she was too distracted by the sound of someone else screaming to notice the body impaled on the stalagmite.

She found Arthur, screaming and crying and bleeding horribly from the place where his arm used to be. He was incoherent, and Vivi couldn’t believe she was able to keep it together enough to drag him out of there and drive him to the nearest place with a phone signal so she could call an ambulance.

She remembered that last part, and as if the entity sensed this, it replayed the beginning again. The caves she’d been so excited to explore with her best friend, her best friend and her boyfriend, Lewis. The agreement to split up, the scream, Lewis falling, the wet crunch as he was run through by a stalagmite, the blood, then forgetting all of it a moment later.

It began again, and Vivi felt herself unraveling as her other memories of Lewis returned on their own. Each time she had to watch him die it was with more memories of how much she loved him, how happy they’d been, how happy…

“The two of you were happy.” The entity whispered in her mind. “But what about poor Arthur?”

Arthur? Arthur was fine with it, he was supportive, he gave them all the time they needed to be together and then some, he had only good things to say about their relationship, he let them take the van to look at the stars on their six-month anniversary, he’d seemed…

“Lonely, resigned. Resigned to being left behind by his friends who were so in love and didn’t have room for him anymore.”

No, they didn’t want to leave Arthur behind, Arthur was…

“The third wheel, the extra piece to a complete puzzle, the baggage no one wanted.”

That wasn’t true! It wasn’t, Vivi and Lewis…

“If you weren’t leaving him behind then why didn’t you notice? You had months to catch on to how dejected and alone he was feeling.”

Vivi didn’t think, Arthur didn’t say…

“You didn’t ask. Lewis noticed enough to suspect Arthur of murdering him out of jealousy, but said nothing to you, and certainly didn’t try to help your dear friend.” The entity spoke the word friend with venomous sarcasm.

No, no, Vivi hadn’t meant to leave Arthur out, she cared about him _and_ Lewis, she…

“He loved you, y’know.”

The memories stopped, they were all there now and frozen in her mind like Christmas ornaments dangling from a barren tree. Vivi couldn’t breathe.

“He loved you and Lewis both, but was too afraid to say anything, too ashamed. Then, when he thought he was finally ok with never having your love, you chose each other, and he was left without even your friendship.”

Vivi’s vision finally refocused in the room, her face was lowered as the entity spoke to her with a sharp smile and eyes glittering with cruel delight.

“He was easy to possess in that state, I barely had to try.”

Vivi’s hands balled into fists.

“You killed your friends Vivi, first Lewis, now Arthur. They died because of you.” The entity whispered, leaning close.

“No.” Vivi muttered.

“No?” The entity asked, a little confused but trying to hide it.

“No, you killed them.” She hissed.

“Did I?” The entity asked, placing the hand with an eye in it over their chest.

“Yes, and I’m going to make you pay for it.” Vivi promised.

She was not an angry person, she made a point of avoiding things that might anger her because she didn’t like the taste of the emotion. But in that moment, she was angrier than she had ever been, seething with barely contained rage. She felt as if something were building within her, something sharp and cold and just itching to dice the entity into little greenish cubes. The feeling grew, and Vivi’s breath came quicker, her skin prickled and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

Then, there was a sword in her right hand.

Vivi didn’t care much how it had gotten there, the woven hilt felt right against her palm, and with a flick of her wrist the ropes fell away. She dropped low into a stance and held the blade before her, ready to strike.

“What the—” The entity stumbled back, and with a roar Vivi lunged after them, cutting diagonally. They dodged at the last moment, but the air around where the sword had cut crackled and froze, a section of mist falling away around her in the form of glittering blue flakes of snow.

Shiromori appeared from the fog, the entity alongside her. Vivi fixed them both with a glare to match her unbridled fury, and they gulped fearfully at the same time.

Then, she attacked.

o-o-o-o-o

Lewis was hunched over, his hands on his knees as he waited to see if he was going to throw up behind the rock next to the caves. The baseball bat was leaned up against the rock and Vivi’s glasses sat on top. Mystery was standing awkwardly nearby, head turned away as he tried and failed to look more concerned than irritated.

“It’s alright, most people get a little queasy the first time.” The kitsune reassured Lewis.

“It’s just…the constant up and down, a thousand times worse than any horse, up and down and up and—” Lewis had to stop speaking to repress his gag reflex.

“Yes…I wish I knew how to make the ride smoother.” Mystery said, patting Lewis on the back with a large paw.

“You lied to me, I did not feel at all like Princess Mononoke.” Lewis stated with a light glare, the color returning to his face as he finally felt well enough to stand up again.

“Sorry.” Mystery replied with an apologetic and toothy grimace.

A woman’s voice shouting rang out from the cave entrance and Mystery and Lewis snapped up in an instant.

“Vivi.” They said at the same time, before sharing a look and a nod.

“Let’s get in there.” Lewis said, scooping up the bat in one hand and gently cradling the glasses in the other.

They took off the next moment, running with determination into the mouth of the cave. Mystery’s teeth were bared and his claws cut into the earth as he went, Lewis wielded the bat before him and his eyebrows were lowered.

They made it about ten feet before Mystery’s foot caught on a rope. The two individuals had just about enough time to look down in confusion before a large net sprung up and around them, lifting them into the air and causing them to smash into each other.

The bat clattered to the ground and rolled off the side, falling into a crack and disappearing from sight.

They had been caught in a trap, and were now dangling from the ceiling in a large rope bag. Lewis was crushed underneath Mystery.

“Mmphrryy!” Lewis cried, his words muffled in the kitsune’s fur as it smothered him.

“Lewis! Are you alright?” Mystery asked, wriggling in the net, his long limbs tangled in the line.

“Nnn!” Lewis replied.

“Where are you?”

“Nndrrnthyu! Hlp!!!”

“Oh dear!” Mystery exclaimed when he finally realized where Lewis was. In an instant, he had shrunk down to his dog form. Lewis sat bolt upright and sucked in air. His face was bright red and his clothes were covered in white fur. Mystery was lying sheepishly in his lap.

“Sorry about that, it’s been a while since I’ve taken that form.” The dog explained, Lewis could only shake his head with a sigh. He looked around at the trap they found themselves in.

“So how do we get out of here?” The man asked, testing the rope by pushing against it with his hands and feet.

“Not sure.” The dog replied, sniffing around.

“Can’t you just cut it away with your claws?” Lewis asked.

“Not exactly.” Mystery replied, gesturing to a slip of paper with his nose. It was a paper talisman, and only one of many that were attached to the bag on every side, each one written on in Japanese.

“So, you can’t cut the ropes for…magic reasons.” Lewis guessed.

“Indeed, magic reasons.” The dog replied with a sigh.

Another woman’s scream echoed from deeper in the caved, causing both of the trapped individuals to look toward its origin.

“Vivi.” Lewis whispered, then, something occurred to him. “Vivi!” He shouted, much louder this time.

“What are you doing?” Mystery hissed.

“Better they come for us than hurt her, Vivi!!!” He screamed, shaking the rope of the bag with his fists. “Vivi!”

“Lewis!?” Came the reply, definitely Vivi’s voice. To Lewis and Mystery’s surprise, her bright blue figure emerged from the darkness of a nearby cave.

“Vivi!” Mystery and Lewis cried in elation simultaneously.

“Hey guys! What are you doing up there?” She asked.

“We got trapped.” Mystery explained. The bluenette sighed.

“You all are hopeless without me.”

She took a couple steps back and raised the thing she’d been carrying at her side.

“Is that a sword!?” Lewis squeaked.

“It sure is! Brace yourselves.” She said, throwing them a cockamamie grin.

Lewis and Mystery began urgently chanting no as she charged at them. The chanting devolved into screaming as she leapt into the air and swung the sword over her head. Lewis lifted his hips at the exact right moment and felt the cold rush of air as the sword sliced through the bag exactly where his butt had just been.

A second later, the bag tore open and Lewis fell out, Mystery fell on top of him.

“You ok?” Vivi asked. Mystery got off of Lewis and shook himself out.

“I’m fine.” Lewis wheezed, sitting up with a groan and massaging his aching chest.

“Good, because I’m still mad at you and I don’t want to feel bad about it.” She replied.

“That’s fair.” Lewis coughed, still not recovered from having the wind knocked out of him. He got to his feet and brushed himself off, only for Vivi to lunge forward and wrap him in a hug. “Aren’t you mad at me?” He asked, tentatively wrapping an arm around her.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m not glad you’re ok.” She said, her face muffled against his chest.

“You have all your memories back, don’t you.” Mystery guessed from a little ways off. Vivi pulled away from Lewis and nodded. The man winced a little at the realization, in the silence that followed, he glanced around.

“I’m sorry Vivi, I lost your bat.” He said, rubbing his neck.

“I don’t need a bat, I have this!” Vivi replied, holding up the glowing blue sword with the snowflake hilt.

“Vivi, where did you get a sword?” Lewis asked tightly.

“I dunno, it just kind of appeared in my hand.” She replied with a shrug.

“It’s your ancestor’s sword, it must have come to you in your moment of need.” Mystery explained.

“Sweet, I’ve been trying to slice up ghost Shrek and Audrey 2’s ugly sister, but they’ve been avoiding me in the fog.” Vivi said, glaring back the way she’d just come.

“Audrey 2?” Mystery asked, earning a look from the bluenette.

“Y’know, from Little Shop of Horrors? Bit carnivorous plant, “feed me Seymour”, all that?” Vivi tried. Mystery shook his head, causing the woman to groan and shake her head. “No one is getting my musical references today. I mean the entity and Shiromori.”

“Ooh, ok.” Mystery replied at last.

“What do you say we go cut them down to size?” Vivi suggested, lifting the sword higher. Lewis blanched, but gave a small nod. Internally, he was thinking how Vivi was the worst possible person to have a sword.

Mystery grew to his full kitsune form, and with a growl he replied “Let’s go.”

The three of them advanced down one of two tunnels. It went on for a ways before the green mist that had been swirling on the floor grew to fill the entire passageway. They slowed down, advancing cautiously, and a little further on the tunnel opened into a larger area.

A few steps later and a figure plowed into Mystery from the side. He stumbled, and with a yowl he realized what Vivi and Lewis also realized in that moment.

They were standing at the edge of a cliff.

The kitsune scrabbled for a hold, and Vivi called out his name and reached for him. It did little, and Mystery fell into the swirling fog below.

“We need to get down there!” She cried, whipping around back toward the way they came, remembering the split passage near the entrance. Somehow, they’d picked the wrong tunnel and ended up on the cliff instead of the area below with the stalagmites, where Vivi had been tied up.

Right as she was about to charge that way and come to Mystery’s aid, another figure emerged slowly from the fog.

“I don’t think so.” The entity crooned.

o-o-o-o-o

Mystery had landed on his feet, he hadn’t survived this long without taking a few falls and he knew how to handle himself. His ears stood tall as he bared his teeth at the mist. He couldn’t see anyone, but Shiromori’s scent was unmistakable.

Her laughter echoed out from the fog, reverberating off the stone wall so he couldn’t quite place it.

“It’s been a long time since we fought properly, _mutt_.” She sneered from somewhere in the room. Mystery turned in circles, growling, his head low and his claws digging holes into the stone beneath him. “Do you remember what happened the last time we battled? Just you and me, one on one?” She questioned.

In a flash, she had leapt out at him, her scissors drawn. He dodged by pushing back with his front legs, planting his back legs on the wall and then using that for leverage to jump over the attack. Shiromori’s weapon sliced through the air beneath him. He spun to face her and saw that her scissors had stuck into the stone wall. She glared over at him.

“Of course you don’t remember.” She spat. “We’ve never fought one on one, you’ve always been too much of a coward!”

Shiromori wrenched her scissors from the wall just as Mystery lunged forward. He snapped his jaws around the air where she’d been, and she disappeared back into the mist.

“First, you ally with that Yukino woman with her blade of ice, and now, her idiotic descendant.”

This time, the attack came from above. The scissors plummeted down and Mystery had to scramble out of the way. He nearly forgot about his multiple tails and divided them into three groups, a few on either side and a few underneath the open blades of the sentient scissors that were now wedged into the earth.

“What, too scared to fight me yourself!?” Shiromori asked. Mystery realized a moment too late that she hadn’t been holding the scissors when they dropped. He turned only to have a fist hit him in the jaw, followed by a spinning kick that struck him in the same place and knocked him to the side. He swiped, but by that time Shiromori was gone again.

“Is it because you know I’d win?” She whispered, and he whipped around to see her crouched atop her scissors. She seized them and flipped backward into the mist just before he could attack her.

“You know I’m more powerful than you!”

The sound of slicing metal was his only warning. He turned and she leapt at him, the points of the scissors leveled at his chest. He reared up and placed his front paws on the blades, guiding them and Shiromori’s momentum into the ground below. Standing atop them, he was able to look her in the eyes.

“You are not more powerful than me.” He growled. Shiromori roared and headbutted him. He reeled from the blow and she closed the scissors, sliding them out from under his paws and turning the weapon vertical. Mystery had barely enough time to move back before she swiped upward at him.

The blades cut a thin line up his chest, and crimson blood leaked out.

“I am more powerful than you! You made me so!” Shiromori howled. “I amassed more life force than any human could use in a hundred thousand years, but it wasn’t enough for you!”

Mystery decided to strike first, pouncing at the tree-woman claws first. She raised her scissors as a shield, but he had anticipated that and followed his swipes with his teeth. He seized the blades and tugged for all he was worth. Shiromori held fast, so he spun and swung her with the scissors into the nearest stalagmite. She crashed into it and it cracked and shattered at the impact.

“You’re the one who was never satisfied Shiromori, I could have brought you the blood of every human on earth and you still would have wanted more.” Mystery growled, his tails swishing in agitation. Shiromori laughed bitterly and picked herself up from the rubble.

“So self-righteous, as always, _mutt._ ” She spat. “You yourself offered me my first taste of life, you nurtured my hunger, you shared it!” She rotated her scissors so they aligned with her legs, the points positioned just before her feet. She then launched herself into a whirling butterfly kick, her legs parallel to the ground as she spun, the blades of the scissors extending beyond them, transforming her into a vicious spinning sawblade. Mystery stood on his hind legs and prepared to strike her down, but she extended a hand mid-spin and drove it into the earth, causing her to pivot abruptly in air. She brought the scissors down onto one of Mystery’s tails, pinning him to the ground. He howled and fell to his side. Shiromori twisted the scissors slowly and cruelly as she spoke.

“My want was yours because _I_ was yours, and you were mine. You abandoned your thirst for life, the greatest power of all! I am that thirst you left behind!” Her voice cracked with emotion.

Mystery ripped his own tail free with a yelp, but in that moment where Shiromori was off guard, he drove his head into her and knocked her to the ground. The scissors skidded out of reach and he pinned her beneath his claws.

“I abandoned nothing but the childish notion that life can only be gained by taking it from others.” He growled. “If you could see past your obsession you might learn what I have learned.”

“And what’s that, _mutt_?” She asked through a choking laugh.

“That there is more life in a single day shared with others, as a simple being through simple acts of love, than in a million years of bloodshed.”

Shiromori’s face fell into an expression of pained confusion, then came a scream from above.

o-o-o-o-o

“Stay back!” Vivi shouted as the entity advanced on her and Lewis. She held the sword before her, but the entity only chuckled.

“You can’t hurt me with that letter opener. Damage the body as much as you like, it won’t hurt me.”

“You’re bluffing.” Lewis insisted.

“Am I?” They asked, stepping closer and causing the two people to back up reflexively. “Tell you what, Vivi, since we’re all reunited here in this cave, I’ll be satisfied with just Lewis.”

“I said stay back!” She demanded, shaking the sword.

“You and Mystery get to walk away, just step aside and let me have him.” The entity offered.

“Fat chance slimeball.” She growled between her teeth. The entity stopped and regarded her with confusion.

“Are you really protecting him? He killed your best friend, he killed me Vivi.” They said, and the greenish hue of their eyes and skin slowly receded to reveal Arthur’s face as it was in life. His expression crumbled in sorrow. “He killed me Vivi, Lewis killed me, and you’d do it again to protect him? I thought—”

“Don’t you try that crap with me, I know you’re not Arthur.” Vivi snarled, the entity dropped the act, wiping away their crocodile tears.

“Alright, but you know I could bring him back.” They offered, the green returning to their face.

“What?” Vivi and Lewis asked simultaneously. The bluenette lowered the sword slightly.

“Yeah, same exchange as before, a life for a life. All the preparations have been made, all I need is a life to exchange to this body, and Arthur will breath again.”

“You’re lying!” Vivi cried, her voice cracking.

“Am I?” They asked, their face soft with false sympathy. “Don’t you want your friend back? If for nothing else, then to apologize for all the ways you’ve failed him. Both of you.”

Lewis flinched and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Shut up!” Vivi shouted.

“Come on Vivi, it’s easy. Just walk away and let me have Lewis. After all, he took Arthur’s life, it’s only fair he should be the one to give it back.” They stated, their green eyes locking on the man in question.

An agonized yowl echoed up from the area below.

“Time’s running out Vivi, make a choice before it’s too late for the dog as well.” They prompted, and Vivi curled in on herself. Lewis let out a shaky breath and made to move past her. Maybe the entity was lying, but if there was a chance they could get Arthur back, Lewis would risk anything. It was all his fault, and Arthur, he lo—

“Go fuck yourself.” Vivi muttered, and her head snapped up. In an instant she was cutting downward toward the entity.

They caught the blade with their hand. First, thick blood trailed out from the place where the sword had cut into their arm, the one without the eye, then it began to freeze where it was touching the metal.

They smirked, and seized the sword, tossing it to the side and throwing Vivi off the cliff with it. She screamed as she fell.

The moment Mystery heard this, he pulled away from Shiromori and launched himself through the air. He managed to catch Vivi as she was falling, the neck of her blue sweater ripping under his teeth. He then turned belly-up, knowing that he couldn’t land normally without injuring her. They fell together, a stalagmite grazing his side and slicing it on the way down. He bounced off painfully and crashed the rest of the way to the ground, Vivi landing unharmed on his soft chest.

Once his jaw released, she rolled off of him and rushed to his side. He was whining pitifully in a heap of white fur that was increasingly stained with blood.

“No, no no, Mystery.” She muttered, petting him compulsively. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Shiromori approaching. “Stay away from him!” She screamed, holding up her sword. The tree-woman, surprisingly, stopped.

“He did this for you?” She asked, an angry frown plastered on her face. Vivi didn’t know how to respond, so she merely nodded once. “Once an idiot, always an idiot.” Shiromori spat, but seemed tense as she examined the kitsune’s battered body.

Sensing her vulnerability, Vivi looked at her imploringly.

“Help us.” She pleaded, and for the first time she saw Shirmori’s face soften.

o-o-o-o-o

Above, Lewis was peering over the ledge to try and see if Vivi was alright, but he couldn’t see anything through the dense green fog. He’d heard some kind of crashing noise, but couldn’t make anything else out.

His search was interrupted by the entity seizing his shoulder and spinning him around. A hand grasped the front of his shirt and raised him until Lewis was lifted off the ground.

“This feels familiar, doesn’t it? Do you remember how it ends?” They asked, taking a few steps forward to dangle Lewis over the edge.

Lewis’ heart was pounding in his chest and he felt a deep panic and fear at the thought of dying all over again, in the same excruciating way. But at the same time, he felt that he deserved it, especially as he stared into what had been Arthur’s face, his best friend, whose body was only now possessed by this monster because of what Lewis had done.

Because Lewis had killed him.

Then came the sound of a gun cocking.

“Whatever you are, I suggest you set the boy down, nice and easy, and put your hands in the air.” Lance rumbled from behind the entity.

There was a heavy pause, then the entity slowly brought Lewis back above the ledge and set him down. Lewis was relieved, but only for a moment as he watched the eerie green hue melt from Arthur’s body yet again.

The entity turned to face Lance, and Lewis watched the older man’s eyes widen in horror and his gun lower.

“Uncle Lance?” Not-Arthur asked tearfully.

“A-Arthur?” Lance asked in response, his eyebrows drooping as he took in his nephew’s appearance. “What-what happened, why are you…” Lance couldn’t finish the sentence. Not-Arthur began to cry.

“He killed me. He killed me Uncle Lance.” He wept, taking a few stumbling steps forward. “I came back, like this, I don’t know how, but I did.”

Lance lowered his gun the rest of the way and began shaking his head in shock.

“No, no.” He insisted.

“Lance, please. Lewis killed me, he pushed me into the pit and one of the rocks…” Not-Arthur held his hands up to the gaping, bloody hole in his chest.

“No…Arthur, please.” Lance pleaded, tears beginning to brim in his eyes.

Not-Arthur stepped to the side, granting Lance a clear view of Lewis standing on the ledge. He looked him up and down.

“That’s not true, is it? You wouldn’t…would you?” Lance asked, sucking in a breath through his teeth as he tried to hold his tears back.

Lewis felt a pit growing in his heart, deeper than the hole that had been punched there. He wanted to curl into a ball and weep until there was nothing left within him, he wanted to erase the memories of his existence and disappear, he wanted to burn every last thing around him to a smoldering crisp.

Most of all, he wanted to pull Arthur into a hug and hold him there forever, just the warmth of the other man pressed against him, safe in his arms. He should only have ever been safe in his arms.

But he didn’t want to lie. He couldn’t. So in reply to Lance’s question, he slowly nodded.

The man’s face crumbled and he shook his head again and again.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorr—” Lewis tried to say, his voice strained.

“Be quiet.” Lance snapped, raising the gun to point it at Lewis’ chest. His shoulders were shaking as he took in sharp, short breaths. In his eyes, there was a question. “Why?” he asked. “He was your friend, he…he loved you.” Lance whispered. “And I loved him, he was my boy, my very own-” His words broke off into a sob and he buried his face in his hand, the other one still holding the shotgun aloft.

“They’re going to exorcise me Lance.” Not-Arthur said. “I came back, because I needed to see you again, but Vivi, Lewis, they’re going to banish me forever.” He lied, his voice laden with false fear and sorrow. “You have to stop them, you have to help me.” He pleaded.

Lance raised his head and restored his firm grip on the gun. He sniffled as he took a few steps closer to Lewis.

“Did you know?” He demanded angrily. “Did you know he loved you? How much he loved you?”

Lewis pressed his lips together, tears sliding down his cheeks to match the ones that were slipping into Lance’s beard.

“Not until it was too late.” He replied.

“Didn’t you love him back?” Lance asked mournfully.

When Lewis opened his mouth to answer, Not-Arthur interrupted him.

“Kill him Lance, he deserves it, and he’ll exorcise me if you don’t.” He said. Lance lowered his head to peer down the sight of the gun, it was pointed at Lewis’ heart. “Shoot him, before it’s too late.”

Lewis looked at Lance, and with a tiny reassuring smile, he mouthed the words “do it” his throat too tight to make sound, “it’s alright” he reassured.

There was an agonizing pause.

Then Lance spun and aimed the gun at the entity.

“I don’t know what you are, but you’re not my nephew.” He growled.

“Uncle Lance—” They sputtered.

“Arthur would never hurt anyone, especially not Lewis, no matter what he’s done.” Lance stated and advanced on the entity.

In the blink of an eye, the entity’s demeanor shifted. Their shoulders slumped and they smacked their lips in irritation. The green creeped back into their flesh as they regarded Lance sourly.

“Guess I gotta do all the work around here.” They said, and before either man could react they lunged forward, grabbed the shotgun in one hand and Lance by his shirt in the other. They flung him into Lewis and sent them both toppling over the ledge.

Before they could even begin screaming, they were each seized by the backs of their shirts and held dangling above the sharp stalagmites below. Lewis twisted around to see two green hands, one wrapped in a white ribbon, jutting out of the side of the cliff and gripping them firmly.

The hands slowly made their way down the wall, burrowing through the earth, and deposited the two men safely on the ground. Vivi rushed over and into Lance’s arms, Mystery limping behind her, a white ribbon to match the one around the hand was wrapped around his injured tail.

Everyone jumped when Shiromori abruptly burst out of the wall, looking unhappy but significantly more subdued than Lewis had ever seen her. He let out an involuntary yelp.

“Shut up purple boy, I’m not gonna hurt you.” She grumbled, crossing her arms. Lewis shot Vivi a bewildered look, but she just shrugged with an awkward smile.

“Are you serious!?” A voice roared from above them, and they all looked up to see the entity peering over the ledge. “Would one of you please just _die_!?” They shouted.

“Deal’s off greeny, I’ve got some things I want to talk about before I rip the mutt’s heart out of his chest.” Shiromori shouted back up.

“Oh dear.” Mystery muttered.

“Deal was off from the beginning you stupid shrub!” Shiromori tensed with rage at the descriptor. “You think I was going to settle for one pathetic human life when I could have as many as three plus you and the kitsune?”

“You said you could only take human life!” She responded.

“I lied! I can take as much life as I want, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” They growled. “I was going to save my power for later, but I guess I’ll just have to use it now.” They extended their sickly green arms, the eye glowing from the palm of the left one. There came a cracking sound as stalagmites all around shook and broke. Rather than collapsing, they rotated in air to point directly at the group. They were surrounded on one side by the approaching points of the stony spears, and behind them was a solid wall. “Hold still.” The entity requested as it positioned the stalagmites to point directly at the people in the area below.

Vivi held her sword up, Mystery growled, but continued limping, Lance raised his fists, as did Lewis, and Shiromori tried to burrow into the earth, but a strange green sheen was coating it, a magic barrier keeping her trapped. She readied her scissors with an angry groan.

“That’s it, just a little bit—”

The entity paused.

What was that?

It was a quiet sound, but piercing.

Squeaking?

Yeah, definitely squeaking.

They looked around, but couldn’t see where it was coming from.

They felt a very light tapping on their foot, and looked down to see a hamster with wheel for back legs repeatedly ramming itself into them. It was clutching a bluish-purple star in its tiny paws.

“Aww, hello little rodent.” They snorted. The hamster yipped at them again, glaring up with unusually bright purple eyes. The entity chuckled and raised their foot. “A little life as an appetizer.” They muttered, and set their foot on top of the hamster.

It squeaked pitifully as they began applying pressure, slowly crushing the tiny creature beneath. They continued laughing as the small thing pushed weakly against their foot in attempt to stop them from squashing their thin bones and puny heart.

“Bye bye.” The entity crooned.

Just then, a purple spirit with glowing yellow eyes emerged from the hamster and flew up at the entity with its teeth bared. It was enough to make the entity jump and step off of the hamster. The ghost swarmed their head, screeching terribly.

The entity swatted at it, shouting angrily until they finally managed to expel it with magic. It wailed in pain at the act.

Angrily, the entity stomped over the hamster and swiftly kicked it, sending it flying with a squeak over the ledge. The star fell from its paws at the impact and clattered to ground somewhere in the lower part of the cave.

The entity huffed, not taking notice of the ghost repossessing the hamster and lowering him safely to the ground. They resumed their manipulation of the stalagmites toward the group of vulnerable lives below.

Lewis and the others began to grow fearful as if looked more and more like the stalagmites wouldn’t stop.

“I’m sorry.” He said, lowering his hands. “I’m sorry for everything, this is all my fault.” He muttered, turning to look at Vivi. If he was going to die, he wanted to do so looking at her.

“It’s not all your fault my friend, I’m to blame as well. I’m sorry.” Mystery said, taking his form as a small dog, and limping over to curl up at Vivi and Lewis’ feet.

“Shoulda looked after him better, shoulda looked after all of you. I knew this ghost hunting business was dangerous, what kind of parent am I letting my own kid die?” Lance added in, not budging from his spot.

“Everything sucks, but if we’re going to die, I don’t want to hear any of this stupid blaming, self-pity crap.” Vivi snapped, looking hard at everyone around her. “Arthur’s the only one that needs an apology from any of us.” She said softly. “So when we see him, we’re all going to tell him we’re sorry…and that we love him.” She finished, taking Lewis’ hand and staring bravely at the stalagmites, which were now very close.

“No thanks, don’t even know this Arthur idiot.” Shirmori chimed in.

Everyone glared at her.

Across the floor, a star-shaped pin rattled against the stone floor.

“Goodbye Mystery Numbskulls.” The entity hollered from above, laughing. The stalagmites drew back a bit, as if readying themselves to plunge forward and end the lives of everyone before them.

There was an explosion of yellow light, the room crackled with static, and the green mist was blown away in an instant.

The entity had a few seconds to be confused before a bolt of lightning sliced through the air and struck them. They were launched backward and into the wall by the impact, which left their body smoldering and patches of their skin blackened.

The stalagmites dropped to the floor with a loud crash, causing everyone standing before them to jump and stare in confusion.

Then, from the ledge above, a figure floated down to them.

Dressed in black slacks, a black vest over a white shirt, with a purple and blue star hovering over their chest, was a skeletal being with a floating skull. A ghost, not too different from how Lewis had looked not that long ago.

Their eyes were tilted downward sorrowfully, and they regarded the group silently when their feet touched the ground.

Then, in a flourish of electric light, spiky yellow hair appeared on their skull and yellow rings formed irises in the black of their eye-sockets.

“Arthur?” Vivi asked, her eyes widening.

The ghost looked shy, but opened his arms and said “Hey guys.” In an unmistakable voice.

Vivi charged forward and flung herself into his arms, peppering his skeletal cheeks with kisses as she cried unabashedly.

“Arthur, oh my god oh my god oh my god.” She muttered, squeezing him so hard the others could hear his bones creaking.

“Of course, Lewis wasn’t just dead, he was a ghost, he exchanged his existence for yours and vice versa.” Mystery muttered, gazing at Arthur in wonder.

Lance walked numbly over, and the ghost looked up from Vivi’s shoulder, somehow seeming incredibly nervous. Vivi stepped aside so Lance could get a clear look. Before Arthur could speak, he was being pulled into another bone-crushing hug, this time from his uncle. He melted into the embrace. Mystery padded over and rubbed his head against the ghost’s leg. Arthur reached a hand down to scratch him.

Lewis tried to approach, but a light squeaking distracted Arthur, who turned to see Galahad wheeling slowly over, accompanied by a sad little deadbeat. They looked a little worse for wear, but not badly injured in any way.

“There are my little heros.” Arthur muttered, crouching down and lovingly scratching Galahad. The deadbeat cooed and flew up to nuzzle Arthur’s face.

Lewis cleared his throat awkwardly, and finally Arthur turned to him.

“Arthur, I—”

Everyone was sent sailing in different directions by an invisible force.

“I am so _sick_ of all of you!” The entity screamed from the mouth of the tunnel leading to the lower area.

Arthur was up in an instant and sending bolts of electricity shooting toward the entity.

“Stay away from my friends!” Arthur cried, his voice shaky but determined.

“Friends!?” The entity scoffed. “These people abandoned you, lied to you, they’ve hurt you, emotionally and physically. One of them tried to kill you, another one succeeded!”

“Fuck off.” Arthur replied, his voice firm this time. And he blasted the entity again, they were flung backward into the tunnel. They sat up, glared at everyone, and raised their hands in surrender.

“Fine, I guess I don’t get to have your pathetic lives.” The entity spat, but then a grin slowly spread across their features. “But neither do you.”

They snapped the fingers on the hand with the eye, and the roof of the cave cracked, crumbled, and collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, sorry for the ending. I'll try to update as soon as possible.  
> Jeez, I didn't mean to write a fic that revolves around Arthur and then not have him in it for most of the thing, how did that happen? Whoops. Anywho, thank you so much for reading, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought!


	6. Parts of a Whole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the cave collapse.

Lewis wasn’t sure if he was alive or not for a moment. It was dark, even after he opened his eyes, and he felt an odd tingling all over. However, a moment later, his lungs began to strain and he needed to cough. There was dust in the air, and Lewis could feel his own heartbeat in his palms, which were resting against the stone floor.

His eyes gradually adjusted, and he realized that it wasn’t as dark as he’d thought. There was a soft, comforting, purple glow illuminating the area. Lewis glanced around, shaking the dust and rubble out of his hair, and saw that he was inside a kind of dome formed by the collapsing cave ceiling, like a little pocket inside the wreckage.

It was unbelievably lucky, Lewis didn’t have a scratch on him. It was too lucky.

He turned around toward the origin of the gentle light, and saw a strange purple shard floating in air. It was shaped something like an upside-down kite, and Lewis squinted at it.

The dome was too short for him to stand, so he crawled over to the strange object. It moved away from him a little, as if it was scared.

“It’s ok.” Lewis found himself saying, though he wasn’t sure why. He extended a hand toward the floating purple shape and after a slight hesitation it drifted over to him. It hovered over his hand until he turned it over and opened his fingers wide, then it settled onto his palm.

The moment it touched his skin, Lewis realized what it was.

A piece of Arthur’s anchor, one point of the star broken off. He also realized that the shard of anchor was what had kept the roof of the cave from crushing him, its ghostly magic had shielded him from the tons of stone and rock. The four other pieces of the star had no doubt done the same for the others.

The shard didn’t really feel at all like its shape, instead, it felt like a warmth spreading out over Lewis’ hand, one that felt distinctly like another hand.

Looking down, Lewis saw a faint yellow apparition of a hand holding his.

“Arthur.” He breathed, and watched as the faint glow grew to form an arm, then a torso and legs, then finally, a familiar face.

It was Arthur as he had been in life, though entirely transparent, composed only of the faint yellow light that looked more like a sunbeam caught on dust than a corporeal person. Nonetheless, the hand holding Lewis felt real, and he felt his stomach tie itself into knots. He was crying before he could stop himself.

“Arthur, I—” He tried to say, but the apparition shook his head and offered Lewis a small, sad smile.

Arthur stood, the rocks shifting to make room for his form. He pulled on Lewis’ hand, and when the man stood the walls of the dome moved out of the way of his head as well.

With gentle tugs, Arthur’s apparition led Lewis through the debris of the cave collapse. The rock parted on either side of them with a deafening scraping and cracking, but at no point did Lewis feel afraid. He could only gaze at Arthur in wonder as he was guided to safety. The small space, and the one living person inside it, was basked in the soft yellow and purple light of Arthur and the piece of his anchor.

After a long moment, the boulders parted to reveal the outside of the cave. It was nearly dawn, the stars being slowly washed out by the encroaching blue light of morning. The horizon was seeping with a burning orange and yellow glow as the earth revolved to reveal the sun.

Arthur led Lewis out, and the sound of feet on stone transformed into that of feet on gravel as they emerged from the side of the now-collapsed caves. The air was crisp, and Lewis breathed it in gratefully. The rocks fell into place behind them with a crash.

Arthur turned and looked up at Lewis. The faint light of morning was making his apparition appear fainter. The yellow ghost lifted his other hand, no longer made of metal, and rested it on Lewis’ cheek.

Lewis pressed into the touch. It was warm and solid, if he closed his eyes, he could almost believe Arthur was still alive, and that it wasn’t too late for everything they could share. Arthur’s thumb stroking along his jaw made him open his eyes again, and he raised his other hand to place it over the ghost’s.

Arthur smiled, and leaned in. Even now, he had to stand on tip-toe, even though he didn’t have to stand at all. Lewis closed the rest of the distance, leaning forward. The kiss was simple, but Lewis felt his heart breaking at how right it felt, how much he wanted it to never end. Then, the sensation of the mechanic’s lips began to fade, and a moment later, the only thing Lewis could feel was a warm weight in his left palm.

He opened his eyes, the apparition was gone. He looked down and there was the purple shard of Arthur’s anchor, pulsing weakly in his hand.

“Lewis!” Came a voice off to his right, and he snapped his face up to see Vivi standing a little ways off along the wall of the cave. She sprinted over to him and he ran to meet her.

She jumped into his arms and he swung her around like she weighed nothing, burying his face into her short hair and smelling her familiar pear-scented shampoo. After they stopped moving he kept holding onto her, tightly, as if to just glue them together and feel whole again.

He heard her sniffling against his ear and that prompted him to pull away. Her eyes were red and puffy and her lips red with dehydration. She looked up at him with shining eyes before pulling her hand down to between them and opening it to reveal a blue shard of Arthur’s anchor.

Lewis opened his hand and showed her the purple one he had to match.

From his pocket he produced her pink glasses and he gently set them on her face. She laughed a little through her light tears and adjusted them, offering Lewis a watery smile before sniffling again.

“Where’s your sword?” Lewis asked, noticing that the bluenette wasn’t holding it anymore.

“Oh, it disappeared.” She replied. “But I got my bat back!” She said, holding up the metal bat with her other hand. Lewis stared in bewilderment. How the heck did that work?

“There you are.” Came Mystery’s voice from the same place where Vivi had appeared. The two people pulled apart and walked over to the dog-sized Mystery, who had a glowing red shard of Arthur’s anchor tucked into his collar. He was still scuffed up and limping, the white ribbon wrapped around his one tail.

Behind him was Lance. The man had the deadbeat resting on one shoulder and Galahad on the other, the hamster was clutching an orange shard of Arthur’s anchor protectively.

A little ways off stood Shiromori, her arms folded angrily over her chest. Between her fingers there was a soft white light, undoubtedly the last shard of Arthur’s anchor.

“I’m glad you’re alright.” Lance said, walking over to Lewis. He looked exhausted, and deeply unhappy, but the sentiment of his words was genuine, if reluctantly so.

“So what do we—” Vivi began to ask, only for Mystery to bark suddenly and loudly, making everybody jump. He bounded over to a nearby bush, quickly taking his true form as Kitsune.

After a bit of rustling, he emerged, clutching a familiar green arm with an eye in the palm. Everyone instantly went on the defensive. Mystery spat the entity, now only an arm again, into the dirt and stalked toward them.

They tried to scrabble away on their fingers, but they were barred in every direction by the people they’d tried to kill. Mystery stepped on them with a large paw, and they gazed up at him with a wide and fearful eye.

The kitsune’s teeth glittered as he slowly grinned down at the entity. Then, he devoured the arm in a few bites, bones and all. Once it was gone, the kitsune shrunk back down to a dog, licked his lips, and sat with a smirk.

“Delicious.” He said.

Everyone else, besides Shiromori, was naturally horrified.

The deadbeat suddenly let out a concerned note as Galahad began squeaking frantically.

“What is it boy?” Lance asked, lowering the hamster to the ground. He wheeled forward a ways and set his orange shard of anchor on the ground. He looked up, but no one moved. He squeaked in irritation and the deadbeat pointed to a nearby twig with a helpful coo.

The hamster scuttled over to it, grabbed it, and scurried back to the shard. In the sand, he drew out the shape of a star in the dirt. Then he looked up at the others and pointed to the shape with a commanding chirrup.

There was a beat of silence.

“Oh!” Vivi said, and crouched down to set her shard beside Galahad’s on the ground.

“Oh.” Everyone else repeated when they finally got it. Galahad and the deadbeat rolled their eyes at the foolishness of their friends.

Shiromori was the last to put her piece down, but once she had, the star was complete. Its points an array of colors, blue, purple, orange, white, and red.

The group waited, but nothing happened.

Galahad yipped in confusion, scooting forward to nudge the star, as if to wake Arthur up.

“Why isn’t it doing anything?” Vivi asked, looking at Mystery. The dog’s eyebrows were drawn and he walked up to the broken anchor and gave it a sniff. Lewis noticed that the colors were slowly draining away to reveal the yellow of the star underneath.

“He’s too weak, he used up all his power protecting us.” Shiromori stated.

“He looked like he had plenty of power to me.” Vivi argued, causing the tree-woman to frown.

“Yeah, but that was when he had his anchor, he shattered it in order to protect all of us. He can only regenerate once it’s whole again, and he doesn’t have enough power left to put it back together.” Shiromori explained.

“Is that true?” Vivi asked, looking fearfully at Mystery.

“I’m afraid so.” The dog replied, stepping away from the fading shards of anchor.

“What can we do?” Lance asked, his jaw set and tight.

“Well…” Mystery considered the question.

“He needs more power, more life. He needs an exchange.” Shiromori piped up, keeping her side turned to the group and refusing to look at them.

“Enough Shiromori, we will not—” Mystery began.

“I’ll do it.” Lewis said. Everyone quieted and looked at him, even Shiromori. “I’ll give my life, just tell me what to do.”

“Lewis.” Vivi started to say softly.

“No, I’m the one who killed him, it’s only fair.” He snapped, staring down at the star with determination.

“We don’t even know if it would work. Mystery?” Vivi demanded, looking hard at the dog. He shrunk under her gaze.

“Since Lewis is giving up his life voluntarily, then…yes, it would work.” He replied, earning a glare from the bluenette.

“Well what if he doesn’t come back as a ghost? What if he’s just gone?” Vivi questioned, beginning to pace.

“I’ll risk it.” Lewis replied.

“No! You won’t, we’ll find another way.” She insisted.

“We don’t have enough time for another way, we barely have enough time for your stupid arguing.” Shiromori gritted out. Vivi glared at her.

“Then tell me what to do, now.” Lewis said, looking over at the tree-woman. She looked him up and down, and drew her scissors.

“Get on your knees.” She instructed, and with a sinking feeling of dread, Lewis did as he was told.

“No, absolutely not.” Lance broke in, surprising everyone. “My boy already lost you once, I’m not letting it happen again.”

“If we don’t do this, we’ll lose Arthur.” Lewis said.

“Yeah, well you’ve got a family too, we can’t just go killing you, there’s gotta be a better way to save him.” The man insisted.

“Perhaps it would be better if I gave my—” Mystery began to offer.

“No, no, it’s going to be me. Shiromori, do it.” He demanded, clenching his fists and keeping his gaze trained on the star. He was terrified, for two reasons. He was scared of losing himself, but he was more scared of losing Arthur.

The tree-woman walked around to his back, her scissors growing in size in a burst of pink petals.

“No! Stop!” Vivi shouted, rushing forward, only for her feet to stick into the earth and keep her solidly in place. The same happened to everyone else.

“You get away from him!” Lance shouted.

“Shiromori, stop!” Mystery growled, trying and failing to transform. His injuries finally catching up to him. Lewis looked over his shoulder and with a deep breath, he nodded to grant her permission.

At his back, the deadbeat appeared, holding its little arms to the side to protect him, even if it wasn’t technically capable of stopping anything. Galahad charged Shiromori’s leg and began viciously attacking it with little hits and bites.

She raised the scissors over her head. Lewis squeezed his eyes shut and pictured Arthur, alive and well, in his mind. He hoped he'd get to see it for himself, but if not, he hoped Arthur knew how much he loved him.

There was a long silence.

“Damn it.” Shiromori breathed, lowering the scissors and stepping away from Lewis.

“What?” He demanded.

“I hate it when the mutt is right.” She whispered, glaring at him angrily. Everyone was confused as she shrunk the scissors, released the three others from the ground, and walked around to the other side of the star.

“What are you doing?” Vivi asked.

“Lucky for you, I’ve got more than one life’s worth of power.” She growled.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!?” Lance demanded.

“Because I wasn’t going to help you idiots earlier!” She shouted back, before taking a deep breath.

“And now…” Mystery prompted.

“Don’t get any ideas _mutt_ , I’m not doing it for any of you.” She spat, before softening awkwardly. “I don’t like debts, so since blondie here” she said, bending over to jab a finger toward the star “saved my life, I repaying the favor so I don’t owe him, or any of you, anything.” She stood up and tossed the scissors to Vivi, who caught them in surprise. “Take good care of them, and don’t wash them with water, they prefer dust baths.” She stated, and Vivi nodded.

In the bluenette’s hands, the scissors vibrated, almost like a sad purr, and their eyes drooped in sorrow. Shiromori gave Mystery one last glare.

“You’ve got one year to prove your point about all that living simply and loving crap, if I don’t get it by the end, I’m killing all of you.” She promised, then turned to the star, which was almost solid yellow again, with a sigh.

She brought her hands together, her fingers lacing into a structure to help her channel her energy. Her eyes closed, and her feet suddenly began to grow roots that threaded into the earth and toward the star. The air began to shimmer as flowers bloomed all around her and the anchor.

Shiromori shrunk, her body morphing into something that actually resembled a tree, then she merged with the expanding field of flowers that was sprouting around the star. The blossoms were pink, red, yellow, purple, and blue.

Everyone gathered around the small patch of flowers and they watched as, one by one, the flowers began to die.

The petals would turn brown and curl inward, the stems crumbling as each flower slowly turned to dust. As each one died, the star began to glow, its cracks sealing. It started to pulse, at first rhythmically, then more and more like a heartbeat.

Vivi kneeled next to the dying flower patch and watched. Lewis joined her, followed by Mystery and Lance. Galahad examined a falling petal that decayed beside him, and the deadbeat curled close to the hamster.

The people didn’t notice the little roots that had risen from the earth to attach to each of them, winding around Vivi’s ankles, catching around Lewis’ fingers, reaching up Galahad’s wheels, and grasping onto Lance’s knees.

Only a handful of flowers remained, dying to the beat of Arthur’s anchor, which was now glowing so bright that it was beginning to drown out the now-risen sun.

Each person, almost as if they’d discussed it, thought about how much they loved Arthur, just as the last of the flowers died.

There was a burst of light, and then a figure began to form from it. They were screaming, and Lewis was reminded how much this process hurt. He was on his feet in an instant and wrapping Arthur up in a hug. It burned somewhat, but Lewis didn’t care, he held Arthur tight for what felt like an eternity before the mechanic became heavy, solid, and human, slumping against Lewis’ chest.

There was a short pause, then Arthur coughed.

“L-Lewis…can’t breathe.” He wheezed.

“Oh god! Sorry.” Lewis said, stepping back and watching as the man took in a deep breath. He continued to hold him at arms-length, afraid he might still collapse. Arthur just looked up and gave him a crooked smile.

“Arthur!” Vivi cried, rushing forward to hug him. Lance and the others followed, everyone taking turns showering Arthur with their love and affection. It took them all a moment to notice, while his clothes were intact, he was still missing a left arm.

“Why isn’t my arm back?” He asked, looking around. All eyes ended up on Mystery, who smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry, kitsune magic…stuff. Since I ate it, it can’t really…come back.” He explained awkwardly.

“You ate it!?” Arthur asked incredulously, his eyes the size of saucers.

“‘fraid so kiddo.” Lance replied, clapping a hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “Good thing I was working on a new prosthetic.” He replied with a fond smile that Arthur returned.

Lewis let out a breath of laughter, earning a look from the mechanic. Everyone froze, especially Lewis. After a moment, he spoke up, ringing his ascot in his hands as he did. “Listen, Arthur, I…I’m so so sorry. What I did was wrong, even if you had done what I thought you did, which I realize now you never would, even then it was stupid and bad, and honestly just straight up evil, so if you never want to see me again I completely understand and—”

Arthur cut him off with a gentle, one-armed hug.

“You fucked up Lewis.” He whispered into the other man’s ear. When he pulled away, it was with a half-cheeky, half-genuine smile. “But you’ve got your whole life to make it up to me.” He finished.

“And me.” Vivi chimed in.

“And me.” Lance added.

“There it is, I guess you’re stuck with us.” Arthur stated with a shrug, causing Lewis to melt and tear up even as he smiled.

“Not me, as far as I’m concerned I owe more that I’m owed with my mistakes.” Mystery said, his ears flat.

“Then you’ll have to make it up to me too you mangy mutt.” Arthur said, beckoning the dog over. Mystery approached, and Arthur roughly scratched his head, mussing his fur. When he got to a spot behind Mystery’s ear, the dog began kicking his leg involuntarily. Lewis chuckled.

“Oh! Here.” Vivi said suddenly, jumping forward and retrieving the pins from her pocket. She secured them in place on Arthur’s vest.

“Where’s my favorite?” He asked, looking around. After a moment, he blinked twice and dropped his face into his palm. “Oh.” He said.

“Yeah, oh.” Vivi replied with a snort, fixing the last pin in its usual place, a blue circle. He looked at her with a soft, deep fondness. Once she caught his gaze she lunged forward and planted a kiss on his lips.

He squeaked, and she squeaked, and Galahad squeaked from the ground.

She pressed her hand over her mouth and looked at Lewis, her face turning bright pink, and Arthur blushed to match. The mechanic looked at Lewis as well, and he took the chance to lean in and also kiss the mechanic on his lips.

Arthur squeaked louder, Vivi squeaked louder, Galahad squeaked twice from the ground.

“Oh god, get a room you three.” Lance grumbled, turning his back as the three of them descended into giggles. Vivi and Lewis each wrapping an arm around Arthur and holding him close.

“Anyone else extremely thirsty?” The mechanic asked, and everyone said “yes” at the exact same time.

“I am so dehydrated and it is even worse than I remember.” Lewis said.

“Let’s get everyone home then, I’ve got ice in the freezer.” Lance offered, beckoning everyone over to his truck as they responded with a resounding chorus of ‘yes’ and ‘please’. “But then we’re all going to the hospital to get checked for concussions and whatnot.” The man added, causing everyone to groan.

Vivi stopped after placing her bat in the back of the truck and handing the scissors off to a very confused Lance. She looked back at the last second, and she saw a single flower growing in the dust, it had a deep green stem and red petals. She trotted over to the truck and retrieved a bucket before turning back around and jogging over to the flower.

She crouched down beside it as everyone watched, Mystery joined her and gave her a nod. Together, they dug into the earth around the flower. It was surprisingly soft compared to the rest of the dry Texan soil.

Eventually, they dug out the plant with dirt clinging to its roots and set it in the bucket, packing in more earth to keep it alive. They carried it back to the truck and Vivi held it in her lap in the front seat. Once everyone was in the truck, Lance started the engine and pulled away from the ruins of the cave. A little ways down the road he flicked on the radio and a song started to play.

_I-I-I-I-I won’t let them take you away from me_

_I’ll be your protection_

_And I’ll fight for you endlessly_

Everyone nodded along to the music as they made their way home, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vivi: Who's a good boy Mystery? Who's a good boy?  
> Mystery: Bork! Bork!  
> Vivi: Mystery want a Mystery snack? You want a Mystery snack?  
> Mystery (slobbering): BORK!  
> Vivi: Go get it!!!  
> *yeets Arthur's arm into the air, wherein Mystery jumps up, catches it and eats it in a single bite*  
> Vivi: Good boy!!! Good boy!!! Do you want another one?  
> Mystery: Bork!  
> *Arthur stares on in abject horror*
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, we're almost at the end. One more chapter, an epilogue to check in on the gang a little while after all this. The song mentioned is "Endlessly" by Mystery Skulls, don't know if y'all have heard of them, their stuff's pretty good.  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and this story so far, I'll be sad to see it end. Thank you for your support, please leave a comment if you liked the piece! Free Mystery snacks for whoever leaves a comment!


	7. Happily Ever After(Life)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life after death, literally.

Lewis was making pancakes. While that activity in of itself wasn’t often considered that labor-intensive, it was in his case. Largely because he took it upon himself to not only make pancakes, but everyone’s favorite pancakes, and the best pancakes on the face of the earth.

Did Lewis have to do this?

Technically, sort of. The gang had agreed that since he’d gone and killed Arthur in cold blood (even if it was only for one night) he was responsible for all the cooking and all the cleaning for a full year. It meant that Lewis kept fairly busy, but it also meant that everyone had moved in together.

However, he didn’t have to go all out and make eight different kinds of pancakes to make sure everyone got their favorites. But he wanted to. He had desperately missed cooking while he’d been dead, the wonderful clear-minded concentration of measuring and cutting and making sure everything was seasoned to perfection.

Obviously, there was less tasting when it came to pancakes, but Lewis loved the dusting of flour on his knuckles and apron. The mixing of the various batters into just the right viscosity and the satisfaction of hearing a pancake sizzle in the skillet.

Lewis slid another perfectly golden disk onto one of the eight plates laid out on the counter.

One of the upsides of living in the shop was that the kitchen was quite sizeable. Lewis could endure the agony of having to clean up the grease stains that Arthur and Lance left behind _everywhere_ for the sake of the huge, wide-open, barely used kitchen. (His parents had a gorgeous kitchen, but he never got it to himself, and it was overflowing with the various ingredients and utensils that the family needed. Plus, despite his parents being chefs, they weren’t very meticulous about washing dishes, that was usually his job)

The cleaning side of his year-long punishment was definitely the less enjoyable part. Lewis loved to cook, and loved the satisfaction of living in a clean space, but he did not love the messes his housemates left behind. Blue hair in the shower drain, grease stains in the carpet, white dog fur on every surface, hamster kibble on the floor, the occasional spot of ectoplasm on the windows (though the deadbeat was nicer about keeping clean than the others). Lewis lived with a bunch of heathens.

And he loved all of them.

“Mornin’ Lewis.” Lance greeted him from behind the counter.

“Morning Lance.” Lewis replied brightly without facing the man. He was just finishing up Lance’s stack of seven pancakes now. The man was usually the first up and he’d only swing by to get his breakfast, then he took it to eat in the shop. “Seven buttermilk buckwheat pancakes with no syrup coming right up.” Lewis promised.

He turned around to face Lance, sliding the last cake around in the pan. With his other hand he picked up the plate with the other six. Underneath the thick ceramic there was the soft glow of a purple flame that was seated in Lewis’ palm.

The ghost stuff made Lance a little uncomfortable so Lewis tried to keep it to a minimum around him, but the mechanic did prefer his cakes piping hot, and Lewis preferred to cook everything just how it was wanted, so he used a little fire to warm them up.

Since the whole incident with Arthur’s death and subsequent resurrection, the gang had noticed some interesting developments in their capabilities. Lewis could produce small amounts of purplish flame. Vivi could produce small amounts of ice and bursts of cold. Arthur was constantly ready to zap someone with a tiny shock of static electricity (and the rest of the group could technically charge their phones by putting the USB ends of their cords into his ears, nose, mouth, or hair, but he hated that). Lance had an easier time getting metal to do what he wanted it to in the shop, though he refused to admit any ghostly influence. Even Galahad was getting around faster than he should have been, and time to time he’d make his way into impossible places, like the top shelf in the Tome Tomb, the comic book shop where Vivi worked (“Galahad? We didn’t even bring you here today!” “Squeak!”)

Mystery, who already had freaky powers, so nothing new there, had explained angrily that Shiromori hadn’t been entirely selfless in her resurrection of Arthur.

_“She stole life from each of us and didn’t fully restore Arthur so she’d have to give less of her own power.” He’d said. Vivi had been excitedly coating every window with frost and giggling uncontrollably. “Now a piece of each of is dead, thus the ghostly abilities.”_

_“I don’t know, it’s kind of cool.” Arthur piped up, who was scratching his chin as he turned a light bulb on and off by poking it._

_“It is not cool, who knows what kind of damage Shiromori did in her selfishness. You may have lost years off the end of your lives!” The kitsune had lectured while Vivi snuck up behind Lewis, biting her lip and holding her breath, turning very red in an effort to not laugh. She froze the hairs on the back of Lewis’ neck and he yelped and jumped a solid three feet into the air._

_“Vivi!” He’d shouted, furiously shivering and glaring at her. “You know I can’t stand it when cold things touch me!”_

_Vivi had only laughed harder, practically crying as Lewis began literally steaming with anger, the frost on his neck sublimating into mist. Arthur crept around while the man glared at their girlfriend, and poked him on the butt, delivering a tiny electric shock. Lewis had shouted and rounded on the mechanic._

_“That’s it, get over here!” He cried._

_Instantly, Arthur ran, and Lewis made chase. The blonde kept the coffee table between them, shifting back and forth while Lewis tried to find the best way to get to him without breaking any furniture._

_Vivi retaliated by climbing over the sofa and freezing a patch of Lewis’ armpit. He screamed and started chasing her as well._

_“Run Arthur!” She shouted over her shoulder as she fled to the kitchen, nearly falling over the couch cushions she had sent flying to the floor in her haste._

_“Never! I’ll protect you Vivi!” Arthur replied, barreling after his two significant others._

_Mystery hung his head and shook it in exasperation. These humans were entirely unfit to possess supernatural abilities._

_“Unhand me fiend!” Came Vivi’s voice, and Lewis re-entered the room a moment later with the bluenette slung over one shoulder. She was playfully pounding his back. Arthur dove in and seized Lewis’ ankle._

_“Unhand her fiend!” He echoed._

_Lewis just kept walking, dragging Arthur along as he did. However, he didn’t realize he was dragging the blonde over carpet, which, in addition to giving the mechanic slight carpet burns, was charging him up._

_Another zap to Lewis’ ankle left his purple hair standing a little on end. He rounded on Arthur, who smiled sheepishly, and a second later the blonde was held under Lewis’ other arm like a duffel bag._

_With cries of fake anger mixed with laughter, Lewis carried his boyfriend and girlfriend out to the garage. Mystery followed with curiosity as Lewis deposited the two of them on the ground._

_“Wait here.” He commanded. The two nodded, giggling. He disappeared inside for a moment while Arthur and Vivi took turns shocking and freezing each other. When he returned, he was holding something behind his back._

_“What’cha got there LewLew?” Vivi asked._

_“Oh nothing.” He replied._

_Then he was walking around them while pouring out a circle of salt._

_“What are you…no!” Arthur said, jumping up, but a moment too late._

_“Ghostly powers gotta play by ghostly rules. And if you two are going to use your powers like children, I’m going to put you in ghostly baby jail.” Lewis explained and Arthur and Vivi began angrily trying to get out, without much success. They discovered quickly that salt couldn’t hold them indefinitely, but it was very unpleasant to cross and they preferred to avoid it._

_That first time, Lewis left them there for fifteen minutes while he tidied up the living room._

_“Why did you put them outside?” Mystery asked._

_“Didn’t want to clean up the salt.”_

With a cocky grin, Lewis flipped the pancake up and caught it perfectly atop the others on the plate. He turned to Lance with his arms out.

“Ta-da!”

Lance smiled and laughed in amusement, then gave Lewis a short round of applause before extending his hand to ask for his breakfast. Once it was given to him he leaned forward and took a deep breath through his nose, closing his eyes and sighing contentedly.

“Sometimes I feel bad askin’ you to do all the cooking around here, but then I get a whiff of something and the guilt just melts away.” He said, offering Lewis another smile before heading back out to the garage.

Lewis got back to cooking, humming happily as he finished up Vivi’s Okonomiyaki. He was still working on perfecting the recipe. Her family made the best of them, which Lewis had happily devoured a few times since coming back to life, and trying to match up to that was impossible. So Lewis had been testing out his own methods, so Vivi wouldn’t have to compare them to her dad’s, or her grandmother’s.

Arthur’s tastes changed from morning to morning, today was raspberry banana. Lewis had bluntly refused to make him oyster pancakes.

There was also a plate of chicken pancakes for Mystery (ew), a plate of mini pancakes made special for Galahad, and a small stack of plain pancakes Lewis had purposefully overcooked for the scissors. They couldn’t eat them, but boy did they enjoy cutting them to pieces all over the floor.

He made Mexican chocolate pancakes for himself, with extra cayenne.

The last pancake had been made the night before. It was compost and fertilizer, to be spread out in Shiromori’s flower pot.

A pair of arms wrapped around Lewis’ middle from behind, one of them metal.

“Good morning.” Lewis said as a happy smile crept onto his face.

“Gd Mrning.” Arthur replied, his voice muffled because his face was smushed into Lewis’ back.

“How much sleep did you get last night?”

“Hndrd thsnd hrs.”

“A hundred thousand hours huh? Sure didn’t feel like you came to bed that early.” Lewis replied and Arthur’s face appeared under his arm to look up at him.

“I got seven.” He said.

“Not bad.” Lewis replied, nodding at the mechanic, pleased. The dark bags were gone from under Arthur’s eyes and he had put on some weight since Lewis had come back. He looked healthier, and happier.

Arthur smiled and slid under Lewis’ arm so they were front-to-front.

“Careful, it’s hot.” The man warned, gesturing to the pan he was still holding over the stove.

“Yeah you are.” Arthur replied. Causing Lewis to snort in amusement and blush furiously at the same time. He decided to wipe the smug grin off the blonde’s face by lunging forward and kissing him.

It wasn’t particularly safe, up against the stove, so Lewis let go of the pan and picked Arthur up, swinging him around and carrying him around the counter to deposit him in one of the high-chairs, their lips locked all the way. When he pulled away, Arthur was smiling softly and happily, almost a little drunkenly, his brown eyes pleasantly lidded.

“Is something burning?” Vivi asked from the entrance to the kitchen from the living room. Lewis yelped and darted over to the stove to rescue one of his pancakes. The bluenette tittered and walked over to Arthur, planting a quick good-morning kiss on his forehead. Then she walked over to Lewis and delivered one to his lips while he slid the only slightly burnt pancake onto his own plate.

“Morning handsome.” She said.

“Morning gorgeous.” He replied.

“Almost done?” She asked, picking up plates and helping to set the table so they could sit down and eat.

“Yeah, just gotta—” Lewis started to say, but Vivi blew a supernaturally icy breath toward the stove before he could finish, snuffing out the purple flame it had been lit with. Lewis used his magic fire to save on gas.

Vivi winked at him and went to set down the plate she was carrying.

Mystery trotted into the room and Lewis slid the chicken pancakes into his dog bowl, giving the pup a few scratches after he’d done so. Vivi picked up Shiromori’s pancake and walked over to the plant on the windowsill.

“How is she?” Mystery asked between mouthfuls, not hiding his genuine concern very well. He asked every day.

“She’s fine, getting bigger all the time.” Vivi replied, crumbling up the fertilizing pancake around the base of the hip-height flowering tree. It was very healthy, with blooms all over and beautiful white leaves. “But I found her with her roots in the serrano plant the other day, stealing their nutrients. That’s not very nice Shiromori.” Vivi reprimanded the plant. One of its branches snapped out and whapped her in the head. “Hey!” She cried.

The rest of the gang laughed, though Mystery tried to hide it in his food bowl.

The bluenette marched back over. “I water her every day and this is the thanks I get?”

“I could take care of the plants if you wanted.” Lewis offered, setting the rest of the table.

“Absolutely not, you’d kill them all.” Vivi asserted.

“She’s right, you remember what happened when you tried growing mint.” Arthur reminded him.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Lewis insisted.

“It’s mint! I can’t kill mint plants if I try, they’re basically weeds, and you somehow killed one in a week when you were trying to keep it alive!” Vivi exclaimed.

Lewis opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the trio of Galahad, the deadbeat (affectionately nicknamed Beatty), and the scissors (who had not been affectionately nicknamed since they were a whirlwind of destruction, leaving little slices in literally anything that could be cut. They had been unaffectionately nicknamed ‘snippy’, and occasionally, ‘that little bastard’). Arthur had made wheels for the scissors so they could get around on their own by opening and closing their blades. They could rotate in their little chassis, choosing to be vertical or horizontal, or sometimes spinning wildly and happily, vibrating with unadulterated joy.

The three of them charged into the room. Beatty and Galahad slightly ahead of Snippy, who seemed to be chasing them, but all in good fun.

“There are my buddies.” Arthur crowed happily, scooping up their plate and setting it on the ground next to the table. “Let’s eat guys.” He said, taking his seat. Vivi and Lewis joined him, the cook removing his frilled apron that read “Serial Griller” (Lewis didn’t think it was even remotely funny, but everyone else did).

Arthur sipped his coffee, drenching his pancakes in syrup. Vivi devoured her okonomiyaki ravenously. Lewis happily chewed his pancakes, drinking milk to make the spice a little less intense and easier to enjoy. On the floor, Galahad was squeaking happily as he nibbled his miniature pancakes, the deadbeat cooing as it flew around and brushed the human’s ankles, the scissors cutting their pancakes into itty bitty pieces with violent delight.

Mystery finished eating, licking his bowl clean. He trotted over to the table and jumped onto Vivi’s lap, giving her chin a few licks before curling up while she finished eating. Lewis reminded them that they were all going for dinner at Pepper Paradiso that night. He’d seen his family plenty of times since coming back, but it still sometimes made him choke up.

He hadn’t been sure for a long time whether he’d be able to hug his mom and dad again, or carry around and play with his sisters. He was so glad he could do all that as often as he wanted, and they were so unbelievably happy to have him back after his absence.

They’d thanked Arthur profusely for finding their son, which was the story they’d given them. Lewis wasn’t sure he wanted to tell them the truth yet (oh boy the lecture his mother would give him, he wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye for a month at least), and it was a true delight to watch them try desperately to repay Arthur with food. He honestly wanted to eat it, but couldn’t. Oh, Lewis’ parents tried to make food that wasn’t spicy, they tried, and consistently failed (probably one of the girls’ doing, most likely Cayenne), much to Arthur’s agony. They kept cooking and he kept tasting. It was a vicious and hilarious cycle for everyone involved.

Once everyone was done eating they started to clean. Technically, Lewis was supposed to do all of it himself, but everyone helped out anyway, taking their plates up the sink. Arthur preferred not to get his metal arm wet, so he was in charge of drying dishes, Vivi put them away, all after Lewis had washed them.

Mystery sat nearby and kept an eye on Galahad and the other little ones, who were playing on the kitchen floor. His tail was wagging happily.

Lance came in with his dirty plate, ruffling everyone’s hair affectionately before heading back out. Once everything was clean, Lewis spotted Vivi giving Arthur a gentle kiss by the counter. He walked over and gave them one kiss each, pulling the two of them into a tight and contented hug, holding them there as long as he could.

It was a beautiful morning, the light shining through Shiromori’s branches onto the table. It was pleasantly warm and dry, but not too much so. The kitchen smelled delicious, and Lewis was surrounded people he loved and who loved him.

And they were all, mostly, alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it everybody. I hope you enjoyed this story, leave a comment if you did (and tell me your favorite kind of pancake if you want, I'm honestly a fan of apple pancakes myself) it's been a wild ride and so much fun to write, so I hope it's been fun to read.  
> Thanks everyone who has already supported me with kind words and kudos, you're all wonderful and I love you.  
> Also, three cheers for the hero of this story: Galahad!  
> Squeak!  
> Squeak!  
> Squeak!  
> I hope to write for this fandom again soon.


End file.
